Playing Soldiers by Becky Gerran

Playing Soldiers

By Becky Gerran

My bare foot stumbles on hard plastic

G.I. Joe lies crumpled on the floor

A relic of bitter combat

On the western front of the bedroom

Half a world away, a little boy

Doesn't play soldiers anymore

Too many have trampled his village streets

The crumpled bodies aren't plastic

And the things bare feet stumble on leave

nothing alive to tell the tale