November 2015
J.C. Elkin
janecelkin@yahoo.com
janecelkin@yahoo.com
I am an optimist, linguist, singer, and founder of the Broadneck Writers’ Workshop. My chapbook, World Class: Poems I nspired by the ESL Classroom (Apprentice House, 2014) is based on my experiences teaching adult immigrants. Other poetry and prose appear domesticallyand abroad in such journals as KansasCity Voices, Kestrel, Angle, and Steam Ticket.
Give and Take
He gave his youth to his country.
They gave him an education.
He gave a sprinter’s leg.
They gave him a prosthesis.
He gave his gut to a grenade.
They gave him an ostomy bag,
box seats, the opening pitch,
and a standing ovation.
When he gave his sanity,
he got the runaround.
He took his life in the end,
and they gave his mother
a flag.
-first published in Poetry Diversified
©2015 J.C. Elkin