I heard a true war story sixth–hand, though I came close to hearing it third–hand.  This is how it came to me: A friend who had recently returned from boot camp – let’s call him Jones – had met someone who had been deployed in Iraq – let’s call him Smith.  Smith was temporarily the boss of a boy that he did not meet, but who went home early with a lost arm and a lost eye.  Smith heard what had happened to the boy when he returned home and …

Being a Christian in the United States today entails more than just having a set of beliefs about God and the afterlife. In many cases church membership implies holding conservative positions on a number of political and social issues including abortion, homosexuality and gay marriage, attitudes towards the government, the “war on terror,” and many others. Although there are many churches in the United States which are liberal in their social and political views, the most vocal members of the church are often the most conservative. Known …

If you ever leave him, this room will still know him
like you did not leave him. In the gold bowl
plums hard with wanting, apples ready,
stems poised, to spring outward. As if nothing
could bear itself, objects sickened by their forms.
The wall aching where a thrown glass once
burst like a star, the mirror heavy with your
swollen face. Until he wakes, you touch yourself
and think of vomiting: you could bend over,
cheek near the carpet, coughing, sweet for hours.