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For Friends Missing in Action
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A thousand vets a day
die in rest homes
or hospitals
or their families' arms,
as final as foxholes.
Centuries ago,
bugs south of Savannah
zigzagged crossing bogs,
legs stuck in amber
until swamp resin bulged
and swallowed them.
My own flight suit won't fit,
crash helmet only a hull,
rubber padding cracked.
The liner sags. I've watched
parades and wondered
how many men I flew with
are missing, still on the rolls
or archives in Washington,
how many names on the Wall
I haven't touched.
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Writer
Bio
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Walt McDonald's published books include All Occasions (University of Notre Dame Press, 2000), Blessings the Body Gave and The Flying Dutchman (Ohio State, 1998, 1987), Counting Survivors (Pittsburgh, 1995), Night Landings (Harper & Row, 1989), and After the Noise of Saigon (Massachusetts, 1988). His work has appeared in numerous journals, including The American Poetry Review, The American Scholar, The Atlantic Monthly, First Things, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, Poetry, The Sewanee Review, and The Southern Review. He is the 2001 Texas Poet Laureate.
walt.mcdonald@ttu.edu
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Other
Pedestal Published Works
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