PURPLE HEART

for J.D. Senetto, dear friend, and Viet Nam Veteran.

Nothing new, I woke up burning
wanting to puke, reaching for a lonely drop
of unfinished bourbon, left waiting in a shot glass
next to my bed, on a nightstand that serves as
a medicine chest.

Standing with a tilting sway at the window
shifting the curtains along with my sack, squinting
blinded by the bright red-orange ball of delta sun rising,
the one-armed fisherman, Jack, walked past with
his dog, Jake, carrying a box of tackle in his mouth.

Jack lost the arm in 64′, the war, he lived alone
down the road in a trailer park home, hanging
critter pelts on hooks out there on his porch,
wearing teeth on a necklace from an alligator.

Jack could draw a pistol from behind his back
with just one arm, faster than you could spit.
In that jungle, he did two tours, recon, Marine Corps;
kept a handful of medals in a shoebox with a photo
of his dead mother, laid out with a flower.

Soon, I’d join him with a fresh bottle, seeing how
it was a good day for fishing.

Bruce Michael Foley about Bruce Michael Foley. I was born across the bridge from Boston, Massachusetts, in Cambridge, as July 4th fireworks exploded over the Charles River, just a stone’s throw from Harvard University. At age two, my family moved to Somerville, Ma.,where I was raised in a rough blue-collar environment, playing many sports. In 1998 I relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. Here, I work among special needs children and teach martial arts. Poetry began in high school, but took off in a more dedicated way in later years, along with resuming music studies, guitar. My poems are published in various anthologies; including Impressions, Prism, and the Mighty Voices Of Thunder Series, sponsored by the international poetry website, “Allpoetry.” I was a featured poet in Lyrical Somerville February 2015, a Boston based publication, as well as being an “Editor’s Front Page Pick,” for the month of March 2016 on Allpoetry. A defining moment that contributed significantly to further interest in writing was a First Place Award from the International Poetry Fellowship, for my poem, “Among Fields of Cotton.” Presently, I am happy to have the opportunity to explore various forms of poetry with Mr. Bruce Isaacson, Poet Laureate of Clark County Nevada.