from THE VENTS ““that/s a handsome young man””

Craig Blais
| poetry

 

“that/s a handsome young man” says a whitehaired world war ii vet w/ a twinkle
+++
in his eye      “i betcha when he gets out of this bed the ladies will be chasing him
+++
all over town”       these retired vets in their old uniforms swarm the hospital drinking
+++
coffee out of styrofoam and harassing the nurses       every five minutes a busybody
+++
pokes his head in the room to check on “our hero” as they call him       they speak
+++
a language out of the past that i don/t understand and gerry probably can/t hear
+++
they leave gifts he couldn/t possibly use       a hershey/s bar a hand grip exerciser
+++
a stack of old sports magazines       offerings laid at the altar of their own imaginations
+++
i want to tell them he hated the military and talked about how he could get out
+++
he said it was full of dimwits future convicts and neo nazis       gerry/s not a hero
+++
i want to say       he/s a kid who didn/t think he had any options       he shit in the sink
+++
of the first hotel we ever stayed at       he blared 2 live crew on old orchard beach
+++
he had what he said was a small heroin habit the summer before senior year
+++
that he didn/t tell me about until after he kicked       i loved him       i love him in spite
+++
of these things       because of them       he bought me brass knuckles i painted
+++
matte black       i squeeze them in my pocket as you preach a love poem to a flag

Craig Blais is the author of two collections of poems, Moon News (2021) and About Crows (2013). His work has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Yale Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. He is an associate professor of English at Anna Maria College in Paxton, MA.

Next
Increasingly Abstract Walks in the Woods
Previous
What Does the State Teach / With My Body