poetry 2 Poems From the Iraq War

Poet Lola Haskins offers these pieces about the 2004 Iraq War from her book The Grace to Leave, first to remind us that in that war the body count for Americans reached 4,492, and second, that its shadow has never dissipated.

Lola Haskins
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Car with Contrails | Carol Lynne Knight

A Partial Roll Call

            -— May 2004

Zach, Kyle, Matt
Ken, Thom, Rob
Brett, Ken, Nat

Kerman, Aaron, Jason
Kirk, Dean, Bill
Ryan, Tim, LaMont

Walter, William, David
Brian, Pat, Sahib
Jakub, Andrew, Bala

Dominic, Doug, José
Richard, Justin, Marlin
Henry, Cedric, Hans

Jesus Jesus

 


For Those Who Will Not Vote

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            -- Election Eve, 2004

Clouds like great ships cross the predawn sky.

While you sleep, dark figures are securing the city.

 

In addition to 3 prose collections, including Fifteen Florida Cemeteries: Strange Tales Unearthed, Lola Haskins has published 16 collections of poetry, most recently Like Zeros, Like Pearls, about insects. Prior to that, Homelight was named Poetry Book of the Year by Southern Literary Review, and Asylum was featured in the NY Times. Past honors include the Iowa Poetry Prize, two Florida Book Awards, a Florida's Eden prize for environmental writing, and the Emily Dickinson prize from Poetry Society of America. She has served as Honorary Chancellor for FSPA since 2016.