To My Former Student Who Joined the Foreign Legion to Fight in Ukraine
CARLENE GADAPEE
I wish I could ask your younger sister how you are
but I know her tears would burn me like acid
and I know your family disapproves of my support—
they made sure to tell me that you’d failed twice,
once in the Marines and once again in the Army—
they say you washed out, regardless of your story.
You did not have to tell me; your heart was always set
on righting wrongs in a way that felt honorable,
you would help to set something straight in a world
that has so little honour, so little that is right.
You should be playing your guitar on a river bank
in the New Hampshire backwoods, riffing with birds
and butterflies, soaking in sunlight and soft breezes.
You have a huge heart, my friend. I’m pleased to call
you friend. I understand that you hurt when the weak
are attacked. This vagabond pull that makes it hard
to stay rooted must come from something deeper
than chasing adults’ broken dreams. You have gathered
supplies and weapons. Maybe this is a grand adventure,
maybe it is a mission you could not refuse. I can’t believe
you see it as another type of video game as your family
suggests. Your heart is torn by injustice, and you want to help
the hurting people. Maybe that’s it. Your hurt heart could not
rest when others need you. Slava Ukraini. Godspeed.
Author Bio:
Carlene M. Gadapee lives in northern New Hampshire where she teaches English and is the Associate Creative Director for The Frost Place Studio Sessions. Her work has been published by Waterwheel Review, Smoky Quartz, Margate Bookie, bloodroot, Wild Words, and elsewhere. Carlene resides with her husband in Littleton.
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Stripes Literary Magazine began in 2020 and has become a home for un-categorized, unhinged and defiant work of art. We are especially dedicated to beginning and emerging creatives from all over the world.
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