barely dawn
his wife wails his name
anguish in the echo
his babies cry
tiny arms outstretched
pleading
his mother
gray wisps shrouding her face
drips silent tears
but his other mother
his homeland
calls for him too
he walks away
he cannot look back
bloody work to be done
Gary Carter
Gary Carter’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in Nashville Review, Deep South, Steel Toe Review, Dead Mule, The Voices Project, Silver Birch, Delta Poetry Review and Read Short Fiction. Forthcoming is a collection of short fiction entitled Kicking Dante’s Ass.