“Breakdown Breakthrough” © Mark Blickley

 

Boy at War

You’re watching an old documentary
on Saturday afternoon TV
where a map of the world burns

in flames to music pulled from the hair
of the dead and
a voice announces the year

and destination of war
when you draw a line between the set
breathing in the thunderstorm dark and

what’s happening slowly inside you each day
like a cigarette pushed hot
through a t-shirt towards your skin

though you don’t know you have words
for such things or that the
locus for who you are becoming

is destruction and craving
to feed the smoking of the hole.

 

James Fleet Underwood writes about endurance, loss, and the fragile calm that follows chaos. His poems often cross between working-class memory, mental health, and the search for balance in art and daily life. He lives and teaches in Thailand, cycling and writing as ways to keep the body moving and the mind clear.

Mark Blickley grew up within walking distance of New York’s Bronx Zoo. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild, PEN American Center, and Veterans For Responsible Leadership. His latest book is the flash fiction collection, Hunger Pains (Buttonhook Press).