I Didn’t Keep A Diary was published in Military Experience & The Arts.
I didn’t keep a diary because it was too late to start
So much had already happened
how could I start a work and skip the beginning
I sacrificed capturing the rest of the war for the sake of a few weeks
Those first few weeks saw what may be our last generation of great
invaders
We drove to a border and cut through it
we crossed from the world of training into a country belonging to real
people
Those first few weeks we fought a real army
we launched missiles at tanks
we followed a book
The mission was accomplished
so we moved into an abandoned school house in between attacks
The war was young and our true enemy wasn’t born yet.
I sat down to write but how could I
the depth of a few weeks without running water made my memory too
cloudy
I couldn’t recall the amazing detail I felt I needed
So I didn’t