WAR Poem: First Days of War, by Capri Gerteis

When I write of flowers
Chrysanthemums and violets
When verses promenade
In joyous description
You will know I have found peace
Within myself

For now, In the first week of war
My notebook is a battleground
Of lingering rage
The death of innocence
Of disillusioned reckoning

All I can write is what I see and expect
Streamed across the news
Bullets and bandages soaked
Draining the wounds of soldiers
Covering the hands of the guilty

War has seeped deep enough
Infiltrated my being
Tarnished my soul
Breached its way into my poetry

Blossomed beneath my ribs
Poison ivy blooming up through my throat
Convinced this world could find a way to manipulate
Chrysanthemums and violets
For violence.