Veterans Day

November in Falluja

She sits with
a soldier she doesn't
know, C-17 en route
to Germany. Her
son
twenty
brain-injured
head locked in place,
lies before her.
She scratches her
eyebrow with the
ring finger on
her left hand.


Going Home

Near Kirkuk
five soldiers watch
or work
while two wheel
the blood-soaked
gurney from the
inflated O.R. The
sergeant's leg
amputated
and discarded, time
will tell if
he
will
be
as well.


Give It Back

Commander-in Chief
photo op over
we learn the
vehicle that crushed your
legs and pelvis was
American driven. Your
Purple Heart a mistake,
you have to
give
it
back.
Your
splintered bones,
real--
those
you get to keep.


Balad to Landstuhl

Sardines in the C-17
can, soldiers who
can't sit or stand, lie
shoulder-to-shoulder
five across, four deep,
medical charts
strapped to their chests.
Red lights in the cargo
bay cast a surreal glow
as mortars
explode on base
outside
the plane.


Sisters in Arms

Danielle Green
Chicago South Side
high school All-American
free ride 1,106 points
Notre Dame
psych major
class of '99
U.S. Army 2002
Specialist
Iraq

Dawn Halfaker
Ramona, California
four-year starter
West Point
class of '01
Lieutenant
Miltary Police
Iraq

Rocket
propelled
grenades

Danielle's
left arm
at the elbow
medical retirement
master's program in
school counseling

Dawn's
right arm
at the shoulder
promotion to
Captain, Congressional
internship

Sisters in Arms
without them

George W. Bush
New Haven, Connecticut
Yale cheerleader Air
National Guard
Harvard MBA
reprises pilot role
taunts the men
who would
take arms,
Bring
them
on.
_________

Poems from This Open Eye: Seeing What We Do
Copyright (c) 2006 by Reggie Marra

Acknowledgements:
"November in Fallujah," "Going Home," and "Balad to Landstuhl" emerged from "The Wounded" by Johnny Dwyer. New York Times Magazine. March 27 2005, pp. 24+. Photographs by Lynsey Addario/Corbis.

"Give It Back" emerged from the February 2005 story, widely reported in the media, of USMC Corporal Travis Eichelberger (and the similar stories of 10 other Marines), whose Purple Heart was revoked after it was learned that a 67-ton American tank, and not an Iraqi vehicle, had crushed him in his foxhole.

"Sisters in Arms" emerged from "Two Women Bound by Sports, War and Injuries" by Juliet Macur. New York Times. April 10, 2005, pp1+. Photographs by Doug Mills, Peter Thompson, Suzy Allman, and Shawn Baldwin/The New York Times, Joe Raymond, and the Army Athletic Association.