Michael Miller's poems have appeared in such publications as The Sewanee Review, The Kenyon Review, The Yale Review, The New Republic,
and The Southern Review. CavanKerry Press recently published his third book, Darkening the Grass.
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Ammo
Night: the recurring dream,
and he is sitting on an ammo box
in Afghanistan
when the ghosts of Krebs and Nestlehut
approach, their arms extended,
drawing him from the ammo box
which explodes.
He bolts from bed
and orders them: "Live, live!"
Roll Call
He touches his uniform,
creases like knife-blades,
ribbons of blood,
silver lieutenant's bars that gleam on the shoulders.
Shall he put it on?
Shall he pretend he is standing
before the men, saying their names,
a roll call of the living,
of the dead?