Two, or More

by Ryan Stovall

he’s Hescoed in, barricaded

behind his lectern, microphone

and dark horn rimmed glasses

an owl mumbling inanities 

in place of poems

spewing cold

a broken pipe’s sewer gush

unintelligible stuff, cock-eyed diction

butter soft, incapable

of slicing to the bleeding quick

either intellect

or soul

I’d need two beers, I hush,

to stick my dick in this.

Bare minimum. My Army

buddy nods, rolls her eyes.

finally

it stops

and to close, a second owl stands

drums wings, clicks beak

and hoots the first’s pure courage

(context—self examination)

admiring at length the nerve required

to poetry

and to quote

so unflinchingly contemplate

the craven void within us all

I pick at an Afghanistan shard

stuck just beneath the skin

until my left leg bleeds

my heart’s disgust

at sheltered ivory tower fools

_______________

“Two, or More” is an excerpt from Ryan’s Black Snowflakes Smothering a Torch or how to talk to your veteran – a primer

Ryan Stovall is a former adventurer, world traveler, and Green Beret twice decorated for valor and awarded two Purple Hearts. Since returning from Pakistan in 2016 he has found writing to be a therapeutic outlet for coping with PTSD. His poetry won the 2018 Wright Award from Line of Advance and has appeared in Rosebud, The Cape Rock, Here Comes Everyone, and other journals and anthologies. Ryan writes and lives with his family in Western Maine.For more information contact christopher@woodhallpress.com

Photo Source.

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.