Sample Submissions

"Reflections from a Day at Bear Creek Park"
by Wendy Burt, spouse to Staff Sgt. Michael Thomas, Army National Guard
submitted to Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience

The day you fell in the cactus,
I laughed.
Not so much from the sight,
But at the thought that you had just
Survived a year in Iraq
Under enemy fire and incoming bombs
Shaking the tent where you slept, dreamless
Between trips to the phone tent.

Then, with your palms and elbows
Full of tiny prickers,
Always the hero,
You ran the mile back to the car
To spare me
(and the dogs, limping and tired)
From tracing our steps
Through the cactus underbrush.

Again, we waited patiently
For your return.
Seven minutes flat seeming like
Another year.
Till you drove up in your chariot
To take us home
For an afternoon nap,
Full of dog hair and finally, dreams.

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