19 October 2008

Sunday Poem "War Zone"

The Legacy Project: War Letters



War Zone

by Constance Brewer



Now

that you've gone

away

our relationship

has been committed

to paper,

entrusted

to strangers.

I unwrap

each letter as if

it were

the flag

of some underground

organization.

I imagine

you do the same.

6771

miles

and 10 time zones

wedged between us.

Our relationship

filters through

in bits and pieces,

a puzzle

to be reassembled.



.

8 comments:

kc heath said...

context, PLEASE!

Lovely poem, but you've aroused my curiosity about who it's about.

Constance Brewer said...

I was reading the legacy project, and this is what came forth. It could also be about being stationed in another country, and the other half being far away... but I'm not telling. :)

Karen said...

Wow, Constance, these letters are a treasure. I so wish my late mother-in-law had not tossed the letters (long before we met) my late father-in-law wrote her when he was a WWII soldier and prisoner of war. Still, there has to be a story and some poems in their lives, even without letters.

A fellow PAD plodder!

Carla said...

6771 miles is such a precise number - is there a background to that?

Constance Brewer said...

Isn't that a great site? Very inspirational. Thanks for stopping by, Karen. Here's to PAD November!

Constance Brewer said...

Carla, measure 6771 miles from Wyoming and see what you get. :)

Kathie said...

Wonderful poem.
My mom has all the letters that my dad wrote to her while he was in the army. How special. Sad, too, that today we no longer write letters. It's all text messages and emails. Hard to tie a ribbon around them.
Blessings from Costa Rica

Constance Brewer said...

kathie
Thanks. :)
I have letters my great uncle wrote during WWII, and he told me about letters he remembers from his uncles who served in the Civil War. Very interesting stuff.

In email, no one can see your lousy penmanship either...