Poetry

AP photo

By

Sean Kelbley

Cenotaph

He should have been here,

Richard Collins III, age 23.

2nd Lieutenant, US Army;

BBA. He only meant

to catch a ride.

Fastest runner in his PTs said

his father, holding the diploma

to his heart, where the son is buried

deeper than a child’s handprint

pressed in wet cement.

Richard’s graduation gown sits heavy-

empty in a chair of honor. Behold:

a monument to all who died

and didn’t know it was in war.

Sean Kelbley

Sean Kelbley lives on a farm in southeastern Ohio, in a house he and his husband built. He works as an elementary school counselor.