What Brought You Here?
US Pennies tossed into dry fountains
no choice between soup or potatoes
no chance to catch polio.
The unknown enemy, wears torn
uniforms soaked in another color.
You dance to music as if survival were
a passing tune, never sharing stories,
crouched down, scrubbing floors -
a toothbrush. . .and what brought
you here Sergeant?
Smoke a cigarette at twelve, two
drags and laughing over Miss Monroe’s
chest, so tomorrow we shall cry over
death, run out of smokes and write
a letter home to Mama.
We still dance in silence
I’ll change the music at
the rec hall,
a different kind of harmony.
Nancy Duci Denofio
from "What Brought You Here?" published 2010
by Dystenium page 1
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