Michael Pruchnicki Poems

I said as the IED blew my friend
into bits and pieces of singed hair
and flesh!
...

The story goes that when the ragged man came into
Papa's bakery and asked for a crust of day-old bread,
my sister cursed him and ran him out into the cold.
'For Christ's sake, get out and stay out! Homeless
...

We cast off bow and stern lines
before dawn-
the ship edged out into the channel
alongside a stone breakwater-
...

The ship lay offshore
gently rocking
port to starboard
...

That was the last thought,
the last glimmer of consciousness
PFC Rafferty had as the high velocity
round crashed through his skull
...

I remember big soft flakes
falling all the way home
Streets filling with snow
the trolley plowing through it
...

Every now and then I leaf through pages
of the book written by Agee and Evans
about the dirt-poor tenant farmers
in Alabama in the summer of 1936
...

Good to see you again, Sergeant Royster
No, don't bother to sit up
I'll just sit here at bedside
and tell you about how tough
...

The bane of my schooldays at Visitation
I thought every time Sister Caroline
called me to the chalkboard
...

Sometimes you never know
the plane takes off
early from O'Hare
bound for Mauni
...