Broken Off & Pass the Torch

by Aramis Calderon

Broken Off

My pocketknife is named 
Control.

It was made from a piece of steel
Left in my heart
By my father.

It is my everything:
A weapon
A tool
A comfort 

I cut everyone with it.

---

Pass the Torch

In war there is always fire.
The command to shoot, open fire.
When we get shot, we receive fire.
To stop shooting, cease fire.

If we shoot the wrong target, check fire.
We clear life in jungles with fire.
For steel rain, we call for fire.

In cities, we set tires on fire.
In deserts, we set fields of oil on fire.
In the sea, we set ships with men on fire.

Until our end, we carry fire.

---

Aramis Calderon is a Marine veteran with a pen. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Tampa. His current area of operations is Tampa Bay, Florida, where every week he meets with fellow veteran writers in the DD-214 Writers’ Workshop.

About “Broken Off” he writes, “My father taught me to be in control and always have a pocketknife. Decades later I realized these things were one and the same, and they caused people more harm than good.”

About “Pass the Torch” he writes, “This is an observation of mine about our use of fire in military language and actual warfare.”