Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.

Kathryn Kysar

43 years old
St. Paul, Mn.

Kathryn Kysar's poetry book Dark Lake is published by Loonfeather Press.  She is currently writer-in-residence at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts.

After Vietnam

I have no memories of hell,
or the times you wrapped
your legs round mine.
I’ve wished you dead,
not chained to bamboo,
your ears red welts
from mosquitos and lice.

The war is over.
I hold this wedding ring
to water, almost letting go.
Our gardener brings roses.
His hands, small birds,
flutter like florist paper.

He tells the children
“All homes are shells,
all children pearls.”
The sea inside me rises.
Your rattle in my brain,
a pebble, a pearl,
within my skull.

  ©2010, Poets Against War, all rights reserved.      Contact PAW       Site Map