War Bonds
by Toby Vincenzo
A recounting of the poet’s mother meeting a wartime pen pal
There was a waiting time,
when the people made sense of God’s mess
A nightmare objective
Fields of the dead
And through it all, two women wrote
intentions
dreams
loss
on paper with steady hands.
Trusting friendship and humanity they wrote
as the pages flew across time and space
Little by little
pace by pace
a war bond grew
Something new
and green among the red fields of war
And somehow, she here, her there
It became a bigger thing than even all their lives
And a triumph was no good without the other
tragic things come and go
nothing was real that wasn’t written
Down
She here, her there
they forged a mighty thing
a garden all its own
to grow and sing
Soon the letters couldn’t be enough
The long dry seasons in between
she here, her there
and in the air
a buzz of wonder:
Does her hair shine?
It was time.
She here, her there
to be together in the everywhere
A date was made
To mark the big event
Families, long known but never seen
gathered like chickens to the fence
here there everywhere
They met at the ocean place of one
where the sunflowers carried the name of the other
And the car couldn’t chug up the gravel road
fast, fast enough
She was out and running
as the other slammed the screen door,
flowered dresses,
hair askew
High heels tossed in tandem.
Nothing else but them.
Family gathered around
no sound
to watch them touch each other’s faces
and link arms
silent now no words
turning away from all the rest of us
Walking down the path to where the ocean meets the whale rocks of the sea
Flowers blooming in their wake, they walked.
What miracle is this?
That they didn’t notice.