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Matt Borczon

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By
In Afghanistan

when the
fighting got
really heavy
I would
be pulled
out of
the ward
and put
right up
front to
receive the
wounded from
the helicopter
there was
little I
could do
there except
clear away
blood hold
severed limbs
hand equipment
to nurses
and try
not to
get rattled
as soldiers
screamed
on those
days even
the sky
had teeth.



5 am

I am
heading
for the
gym I
have weights
to lift
a day
to start
words
to write
when our
youngest
daughter
who still
sleeps
with us
wraps her
arms around
me in
bed and
I realize
this morning
now belongs
to her.

Matt Borczon is a writer and nurse from Erie, Pa. He publishes widely in the small press. His book A Clock of Human Bones won the Yellow Chair Review chap book contest in 2015. His second book Battle Lines is available through Epic Rites Press and his third book Ghost Train will come out in 2017 from Weasel Press. 
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