This found poem was composed from portions of Neville Johnson’s works, originally published in “Sangin: Then and Now” with Dead Reckoning Collective in 2022.
This foreign landscape, a thing of beauty
Unforgiving Helmand heat
Days turn to nights, turn to days
Some days, only but a blur
That odd strangeness
Stranded in this wasteland
Mesmerizing cool soft evening colors
Colors, so gentle for the soul
The way today burns to dust
The waxing crescent moon gazing down
Sangin town
Peace in the valley
If only for a while
Beneath the visiting moon
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Lori Butierries is a full-time caregiver to two children with disabilities. She uses her life experiences and the medical knowledge she gained from serving as a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy to help others facing similar hardships. Lori is an author for The Havok Journal, an official columnist for AwareNow Magazine, and a contributor to The Mighty. Likewise, other news sites like MSN and Yahoo! News have also republished select articles Lori has written.
Lori’s writing extends to children’s literature. Her debut picture book, GIFT FROM GOD, was self-published at the beginning of 2021 and placed as a finalist in two categories in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Lori’s long-term goals are to use her writing to educate others about, advocate for, and dismantle negative stereotypes regarding disability, mental health, and the military/veteran community.
As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.
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