Author: Sharon Scholl
Location: Atlantic Beach, FLA

Professor of Humanities, Jacksonville University. Author of two collections of poetry: All Points Bulletin (Closet Books 2004) and Unauthorized Biographies (Closet Books 2001).

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Duty Assignment

My brother is counting bombs
under the olive-drab ribs
of the Tri State Arsenal.
At nineteen, he has not smelled
the smoke of burning corpses,
has never walked the street
in a land of amputees.
What happens next
is not his business.
He only counts the bombs,
ticking off munitions
stacked in military rows
like beads upon a Rosary:
"Hail Mary, full of grace
(20mm stingers; 40 cases)
"The Lord is with thee"
(bunker busters; three racks)
"Blessed is the fruit of thy womb"
(40 avengers, 80 hellfires)
"Jesus"!

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