By Bulletproof Banners (poem)

Steel can build a stronghold vaster than empires.
My body would withstand pain as cannon flanks
tear our pleasures with hushed tones. Ice in my eyes,
my heart pounding like a hammer, and every pore with instant fires beat
the iron flat. I remember the snow falling like dust, the only
remains of light should show your heart. My boots touch
wandering eternal deserts no more.

I remember, like a smoke screen,
the amorous birds of prey surround me. I was one of thirty thousand
privates within the days of war. Stars create a new fortress in a field
of blue. White, sharp-pointed stars flood like a tide over a land of rubies.
I can only imagine happiness echoing on the ship towards the glowing
marble vault. As all the boys embrace my private resting place, our
adoring flag is my shield.

Every shooting star that passes through
the iron gates of life can’t bring me back. Whispers stayed stacked
in brittle ashes. Morning dew and worms pierce the cracked
veneer of my armor and build a stronghold in my time devoured heart.