PTSD POSTAL STAMP OF HEALING

THE HEALING STAMP (SEMI-POSTAL)

We've been working on these prayers

for some time, wanting them ready,

at hand, finding ourselves instead

in a different airport, banal's trap door

insisting we say To hell with it,

say it wrong. Say Tet, January 68,

surprise on your way to the Post Office.

Neither birthday nor attack. Days

piled on top of one another

in body bags. Months and months

of dead bodies. Pull over,

look for paper.  Dead leaves,

dark ink, a rich mulch unfolding

green springs of hope sprung,

airplanes leaving tarmac daily

a half century back. Medicine

thrown down watches women

wave to asylum seekers

bound and boarding

Swift Air's determined deportation,

women's voices out-singing

desperation, Not alone.

You are not alone.

Jim Bodeen

7 January 2020