commentary | poetry | fiction | chicago | spring 2008   Growing Up War | Amy Groshek


Scandal was something a president came with, 
like speeches, or a suit. War 
was the fifth season, that came between 
elections, and was always fought 
in a country that had no snow. 
There was no blame 
or cause to the matter, only 
the matter there—like 
toys it was good 
to pick up, or the bed 
it was good to make—dropping 
from TVs and radios 
onto the rug, the backseat 
of the car, the curling linoleum floor. 
Follow Mom’s shoes 
on their errands, the dime store fabrics, 
the bank, and it would be there, scandal 
or war, descending to our ears. 
Our grandfathers waded to 
Normandy, Iwo Jima, like 
a hard but needed job, our fathers 
went to ‘Nam instead of Canada. 
But we learned war on the way 
to the grocery store, where no matter 
how little Mom could spend on noodles, 
flour, tomato paste, we’d get 
something sweet at the checkout 
if we were good.
Three Poems by Amy Groshek:
Growing Up War
Single Life #1
Eating 
And a  Poet-to-Poet InterviewSentimental.htmlEating.htmlGroshek.htmlshapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2shapeimage_5_link_3


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Like Joe Hill | John M. Anderson
Taking Back Cambodia | Vincent Reusch
Things We Find | Virginia Bell
American Dreamtime | Robert Warrington
After Reading Bernhard | Edward Mc Whinney
A Spring Sunday | Heywood Broun
Three Poems | Amy Groshek

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Heywood Broun, David Pierce, Bruce Barcott,
Bill Holm, Jonathan Raban

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