OUR TARGETED HEADS / *image by Amalie Flynn*

Ballistic medleys project ambition, while
dancing tones find their pitch. There is
unexpected buoyancy in our youth. March,
advance, train, drill, prepare, disseminate.
It’s the 4am ensemble, time to crescendo
awake for guard duty. Report to post, front
gate, alert and ready. Hours, minutes,
seconds, tempo depends on the action.
The symphony begins with an RPG flying
over our targeted heads. Return fire.
Bullets staccato the enemy location.
A cappella commands over the comms.
Write the counterpoint, execute. Threat
neutralized, they retreated. Though my
heart is playing allegro, via adrenaline.
Dynamics decrescendo the scene, bringing
it to normalcy. I return to my life as it is,
my new normal cadence amid syncopated
pop-shots, RPG’s, mortar rounds, and IED’s.

Jesse Frewerd

Jesse Frewerd was recently published in Line of Advance for his science fiction short story “Apraxis” and in 0-Dark-Thirty for an autofiction piece written about his time in Iraq. He was also featured in Medium, where they published his essay “Listen to the Music.” His poetry can be found in Southeast Missouri State University Press’s Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 9, under Woodland Pattern’s online blog, and in Blue Nostalgia, a military journal for Post-Traumatic Growth. Jesse is a US Army Veteran, singer/songwriter, poet and writer.