“Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting,” Kevin C. Powers, 2009
I tell her I love her like not killing or ten minutes of sleep beneath the low rooftop wall on which my rifle rests. I tell her in a letter that will stink, when she opens it, of bolt oil and burned powder and the things it says. I tell her how Pvt. Bartle says, offhand, that war is just us making little pieces of metal pass through each other. *** Kevin C. Powers is a poet, writer and Iraq War veteran. Poem and biographical information courtesy of The Poetry Foundation
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Recently voted "The Best Humor Site in America That I, Personally, Write," The Byronic Man is sometimes fiction, but sometimes autobiography. And sometimes cultural criticism. Oh, and occasionally reviews. Okay, it's all those different things, but always humorous. Except on the occasions that it's not. Ah, geez. Look, it's a lot of things, okay? You might like it, is the point.
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10 Comments on ““Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” by Kevin C. Powers”
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The Byronic Man 
May 28, 2012 at 6:31 am
Thanks for posting that, and of course thanks to Mr. Powers for everything.
May 28, 2012 at 8:03 am
a great piece for Memorial Day – giving just a small glimpse into something most of us could never imagine…
May 28, 2012 at 10:23 am
Wow. This piece is incredibly powerful. Thank you for sharing it with us.
May 28, 2012 at 10:57 am
thanks. Good to take time off from our random silliness to see the bigger picture. Happy Memorial Day!
May 28, 2012 at 4:37 pm
That was my thought, too. I had a bad feeling that people would think this was my ghastly attempt at a humorous poem about war, or something.
May 29, 2012 at 6:40 am
Very thought provoking and melancholy, as poems about war are bound to be. Lovely.
May 29, 2012 at 3:31 pm
The amazing power of words. Thanks.
May 29, 2012 at 4:21 pm
I just agree with all of the above..Thank you for sharing.
May 29, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Beautiful poem, Thanks for posting it.
May 31, 2012 at 4:22 pm
“Stink…of bolt oil and burnt powder.” That’s potent.