Reminded me of this: a great and accurate short story. SOLDIER'S HOME
http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld/d/hemingway.html#3
Larissa Shmailo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
So moving and the language and line breaks perfect. Thanks for this.
In a message dated 7/23/2007 5:57:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Head Wound
After a year of adequate care,
the soldier returns to his family.
They have been advised of the screams
at night, the defense reflex, the occasional
outbursts. His dreams,
aside from the flashback,
are of hajjis in the hallways
of his otherwise forgotten high-school,
yelling *Allahu Akbar* as they stab.
He has his old room back.
His brother sleeps on the fold-a-bed
in the living room. His sister comes
with her husband. All try
to make the soldier pray with them,
on their knees by the TV;
he’s perfectly willing, but faints.
The heat outside is like the desert’s
plus humidity; the a/c clanks
in the window. They watch the preachers on TV,
and sometimes their preacher
drops by. He must tread delicately,
alert for ‘Why God did this to us’ questions,
which can get out of hand. What he wants
is for the soldier to heal
enough to testify
in front of ten thousand people (the spasms
of “language” are a problem); meanwhile,
he speaks of holy war and secret blessings.
People from church come by
to pray, but the apartment
is dadless, very downscale,
and smells. There was a girlfriend,
unsaved, who only cries on her one visit.
The soldier sleeps all day.
When Mom is at her other job
and the kid at Bible study, he likes
to watch the cars go round and round
(their occasional fiery crashes their own damn fault
for there is nothing bad beneath their wheels).
They take him somewhere safe from gods and fools.
Larissa Shmailo (http://myspace.com/larissaworld)
"The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line."
-Rollo May
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