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War Games
Enemies were easier to identify
playing war games with my brother.
Stalking the south-side alleys
and back streets, we waged war against
the German and Japanese soldiers
who battled our uncles and neighbors.
When playmates joined us
we took turns as the Americans
or the enemies.
We’d shoot them with our toy guns,
they’d shoot us—
we’d clutch our chests,
writhe on the ground,
get up, dust off our jeans,
ready for more wars.
Playing war was much easier
before fetid jungles,
body bags,
before Ia Drang,
Khe Sanh,
Tet.
War by Any Other Means
War is not a rational activity,
though supposedly sane people
engage in it across cultures and religions.
Mosque and minaret clashes
with church and steeple.
God is always on the side of the winners.
War is not an extension
of politics by other means,
it is a chosen cultural activity,
but when intelligent nations
fight each other with smart bombs
they have collectively lost their minds.
War is seldom
a dispassionate calculation.
Leaders should reframe the equations,
write open-ended algorithms,
create new multiplication tables,
restring the abaci.
Sign Language
Before hearing aids
my daughters chided me,
“Dad, you can’t hear us.”
I strained to follow words,
tried to read lips but was too proud
to admit my infirmity.
I held out against the inevitable as long as possible
avoided family and friends
because social conversations didn’t come
with closed captions or flashing neon signs.
I finally settled for one hearing aid,
but lost it in the mud and made excuses.
I still couldn’t hear my students,
I still couldn’t hear family and friends.
I finally went back to the audiologist,
got fitted for two powerful hearing aids.
Over the years I upgraded to better technologies,
added closed captions for movies and TV,
but I still struggled to hear my daughters,
understand my sister and my mother.
Frank C. Modica is a retired teacher who taught children with special needs for over 34 years. Frank’s writing is animated by his interests in history, geography, and sociology. He lives in a university community, where he enjoys the various cultural opportunities available to him. His short story “Homemade” was selected as an Honorable Mention in the Midway Journal 2017-1000 Below Flash Prose and Poetry Contest. His work has appeared in Slab, Heyday, Cacti Fur, Black Heart Magazine, The Tishman Review, Crab Fat Literary Magazine, and FewerThan500.