Stratus
by Kyra Kyle
1
Clouds form road
maps overhead
Petra traces a house
shares it with Milena
promises they’ll leave
the country and find
wherever clouds
lead them, a home
without war, without
her brother bleeding
rivers feeding vermin
in back alleys.
Clouds lead to peace,
lead to safety,
escort them to freedom
they dare not find
until after a home
among clouds.
2
Some gentleman floats above the field. He wants to see grass, but clouds shield blades from eyes—people, too.
He aims to open up the people and discover a glow inside. Shed light to build rivers and feed vermin in back alleys. He searches for freedom in spread sheets and target lists and righteous vengeance.
The gentleman swims in air, hovers over the field, but a second and third pass and the clouds don’t behave. He must leave, so he can return another day to ignite a spark that can build rivers.
3
Clouds block Lowell’s vision as he searches fields
for radar and enemy soldiers. When he asks
for help more experienced analysts suggest
cloud eradicator. Just a few sprays on a computer
screen eliminates any cloud trace. Lowell spritzes
his monitor twice, using as directed, but clouds remain.
The spray bottle reads, Dark Kiss Fragrance Mist.
4
Lowell shambles through fog, en route to targeting vans guarded by air conditioning units, clouding his anger toward a satellite hunting people half a world away: a place where the sun shines while his family, safe in their beds, sleep through the dark. Tarah had kissed him goodnight before he left at sunset. She doesn’t know how bombs and missiles work, Lowell has lost their purpose, and the United States forgets that they fight a war.
5
Pretty please
with crushed birds
lining whiskey tumblers
filled with rusty nails
and the promise to stop
asking me who I killed
for the military
I never learned their names
Tarah stops asking
And I do my best to shove rusty
nails into my head
until I can’t tell
“A battle doesn’t end after the bombs drop, even if someone’s half a world away while guiding them.” —Kyra Kyle
After several years in the military Kyra Kyle came out as non-binary. They are an author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They live where the Platte and Missouri Rivers meet with their wife and kids. They hold a BFA in creative writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and their work has appeared in Menacing Hedge, Spank the Carp, Danse Macabre, The Door is a Jar, The Collidescope, and other journals and anthologies.