For What?

(An Exercise in Fiction)

The recruiter promises
that this adventure will
change my life - -
that I’ll see and do more in
my tour of duty than I’ll
experience the rest of my life
in this backwoods, Bible-Belt town.

He’s right.

As the seemingly abandoned jeep
on the side of the road explodes,
my right side explodes too.
to shield my face, I instinctively
throw my arm up, but it is not there.
Searing white-hot pain dissolves
mercifully into numbed blackness.

I open my eyes and scan
my bandaged body under the sheet
realizing in a fevered panic
that I am no longer whole.    

Encouraging lies are freely offered
Like paper cups of beer at a kegger,
Except no one’s celebrating.
Away-turned sad eyes accompany sympathetic smiles.  

My best buddy said he’d give
an arm and a leg to go with me.
so he enlisted, too.
Ironically, I paid his price,
while Shane gave his whole life.

For what …

Former U. S. Infantry Field Sergeant James Joseph “Jimmy” Wagner, Jr. is from South Ford, Alabama, where he was the South Ford High School’s acclaimed and record-breaking quarterback. His engagement to high school sweetheart, Margaret Sue McBride, 2007 Homecoming Queen, was recently broken when Wagner returned from Iraq. Wagner currently resides with his Father who is remodeling their house to accommodate ramps. The senior Wagner has been employed as a poultry packer at the South Ford Tyson plant for 25 years. Shelby Jolene Wagner is a Tupperware home party sales representative and active in the First Baptist Church’s Ladies Alliance. The Wagner’s have three younger sons.


Patricia Prewitt
May 6, 2009

Assignment is to write 8 syllable-a-line poem about a photograph.