Vladimir Swirynsky – photo by JC
Korea – Observation Post
for Glenn Eure
“The ghost of it whimpered back last night
from a cold November 50 years ago.”
Somehow you endure the things
of this world, the clearness of winter,
half-moon your only eyes.
Bless the good earth, the black
boot frozen hand sticking
up through the half-finished
grave like an apology.
The fingers curled, a cup holder
for your coffee, a distraction from
the imagined stray bullet with your name
etched on it. I have talked to those
troubled souls, men who only nod their
heads, the broken English of silence
that’s an outcry wanting to explain
what we can’t begin to understand.
War is a dull knife,
the poetry of survival,
a rough draft of us on bended
knee prying open the secret
compartment of hell.
* * * * *
Vladimir Swirynsky of Cleveland is the author of close to a couple dozen books. He won 1st place in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition. See him March 16th 2014 when he will be one of 60 featured poets at Snoetry 4: A Kulchured Winter Wordfest.
