"child at the tomb of the unknown soldier"

being born in angst lends
fodder
for crusades; better to be unknown

as fragmentary proxy pieces of
homer’s
body than to be your self

back in the cave: plato and
socrates
demanding blithe explanation

from Diothema: it is about what is
good
for rando humans

socrates a soldier: peloponnesian
war
probably had PTSD and/or epiphany

child’s sources known
to be
born of war and circumstances

branded
guilt complex for
episodic fortune, beginning to cut

then there’s the shame of
being sliced by expectation

buying POWMIA
t-shirt –
ritualistically tattooing the guilt

dog tags are meant to be
jammed
in a bodies’ teeth with a boot to mark

neuro-typical bible names:
data
to identify through personality’s

cults where selves are
shadows
of the humans’ state sewn like

peter pan’s first rendezvous
with
wendy in the london fog

after systems are done with you –
nothing
is left but a plaque

when there is nobody to
claim
your body’s remaining fictitious facts

all flags are symbolic of war;
symbiotic
with violent demonic pride

all war memorials celebrate war:
the named are sequential becoming

part of a larger book where their
names came from originally

war simulacra
pyrotechnics:
grateful dead and hells angels

war can create nothing but suffering;
weapons
create nothing but death

child escorted by their
sources
demanding explanation from monument

these are fighters who perceived
but
nobody cared about them

people want to be
loved
but they can’t stomach loving

shiny boots, buckles, pompous hats:
the changing of the guard

protecting sacred
anonymity
from fragile personhood

unmarked grave would
prefer
to denote armistice than memorial day

uniforms are clown
costumes
in rando humans’ dark closets

This poem originate as an essay on this website: https://www.soldiersforthecause.org/tag/unkown-soldier/ and was first printed in volume 13 of Laurel Review: Proud To Be https://laurelreview.org/proud-to-be. I am not sure why parents found it necessary to show me these monuments as we transitioned through host countries as refugees but I wish it had prevented my enlistment. POW MIA has proven to be cold war propaganda.

"Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced the existence of from 500 to 1,300 of what he termed “POW/MIA’s.” Those three letters—“MIA”—are familiar to us now. The term, however, was a new, Nixonian invention. It had used to be that downed fliers not confirmed as actual prisoners used to be classified not as “Missing in Action” but “Killed in Action/Body Unrecovered.” The new designation was a propaganda scam. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/enduring-cult-vietnam-missing-action/

There were far more MIA after WWII and the insuation is that leftists kept prisoners up until today. The tomb of the unknown soldier might be the same kind of scam. There is historical precedent for veteran artists – WWI traumatized by the trenches – seeking recompense by creating outside war.

I am proud to announce the publication of two my chapbooks The Airplane Game finaled and secured publishing through 2024 Moonstone Chapbook Contest and Saturday Morning Crusades from Finishing Line Press. This poem is included in The Airplane Game along with antiwar and pro immigration works. Here is the press release. The manuscript will be available through Moonstone's website or signed for presale through me karololesiak@soldiersforthecause.org for $11 plus $2 shipping.