Answer to Our Youth

by Dennis O’Brien

Poem


Somewhere a Woman Is Building an Ark

by Louise Eisenbrandt

Poem


My Trip to Catalina

by Jonathan Craig

Prose


A Knock on the Door

by Diane Wasden

Prose


The Turret Guard

by Jack Tompkins

Sketch


Medication Blues

by Lynn Norton

Poem


THE LIFE OF A DRUG-FILLED KID

By Janws Cross, Army

Writing Type: Poem

I was only eighteen years old when I looked in your eyes.
I could see love lying there, but that I denied.
I got on drugs and booze and joined a gang.
I thought they were having fun and it would be a bang.
I knew we were wrong in everything we did,
But little did I know I would be gunned down
by a wild and crazy kid.
I felt the bullet hit my spine and I fell to the floor,
But little did I know I was paralyzed
and would never move anymore.
Now I sit here in a wheelchair and can't move my head,
And it takes three strong nurses to put me in bed.
Now cold bed pans and urinals are all I ever see.
My whole life is wasted and I'm only twenty-three.
When my parents come to see me they just sit and weep
As they think about their only boy, gunned down in the street.
But I can't get up to comfort them; there is nothing I can do
But lay here and pray that this doesn't happen to you.
Now all you kids take warning -
Don't get on drugs and booze and do the things I did,
Or you may be gunned down by some crazy hopped-up kid.
Never take your gun in hand and think you can't be beat,
For if you go against the law you'll die on some lonely street.
They will put you in a casket and when they close the lid,
Your whole life would be wasted and you're still just a kid.
So go start a gang of your own with no drugs or alcohol,
And get the girls to join you and you can have a ball.
Later Vhen you are married and look out on your kids,
You can look up at the good Lord and be proud of what you did.

Our Lonely Death

by George Nolta

Poem


A Place Where Soldiers Go

by Paul Gonzales

Poem


Combat Nursing

by Louise Eisenbrandt

Prose


A Knock on the Door

by Diane Wasden

Prose


Jamie and Roxy

by Richard Wangard

Prose


Stones River

by StevenMiller Miller

Prose