African-American participation & anti-German sentiment in World War I — They called it the “Great War.” With over nine million soldiers killed, World War I was the bloodiest fight to ever take place in recorded history until that point. America had its own local traumas in a time of total war. It occurred during one of the worst periods of…

Where is Death’s death certificate? — A statement a body was planted in the ground Like a dead seed for germination Or a document that dust departed a soul And was cast to the four winds Filed proof a curse still smothers this earth Squeezing the breath out of life A certificate of death’s achievement Bestowed upon diminished families Or abandoned to public record But where is Death’s death certificate? Is it filed in a manila folder, Shoved in a desk drawer or metal cabinet? Buried beneath forgotten obituaries? Or buried in a field with corpses?

What the man who gave us the phrase “fog of war” would think about the American intervention in Vietnam — “Mistakes in operations and tactics can be corrected, but political and strategic mistakes live forever.” –Williamson Murray Carl von Clausewitz’s classic On War is a 700-pages case for the importance of political theory in any military engagement. Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and professor who established the school of thought…

This morning a sparrow taps my window Trapped in open field and empty air Imprisoned on the outside Seeking entry to my home And I am on the inside, coffee in hand with my foot Rocking you in a monkey chair while your mom’s in bed You bound tightly in your swaddle And wrapped in my love The flipside of the window contains the world Where the bird flies and some cry freedom With journeys into jail cells available, and some Leaving home to find a home