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God Bless Our Troops, a poem by Barry Harris

God Bless Our Troops
by Barry Harris

God bless our troops
especially the snipers
who, eye at the scope,  scan
a man hanging in the cross
hairs, perhaps the enemy,
a man who can be dead
a thousand yards away
one second after God
blesses the trigger.

God bless our troops,
especially the drone controllers
sitting in cubicles
underneath a Nevada desert,
firing a missile a continent away
at a band of terrorists
or a wedding party.

Small decisions make a terrible difference,
true spooky action at a distance.


Bio: Barry Harris is editor of the Tipton Poetry Journal and has published one poetry collection, Something At The Center. Barry lives in Brownsburg, Indiana and is retired from Eli Lilly and Company. A graduate of Ball State University with a major in English, Barry was founding editor of Tipton Poetry Journal, which has been published in print and online versions since 2004. In 2009, he helped found Brick Street Poetry, Inc., a non-profit organization which now publishes Tipton Poetry Journal, hosts Poetry on Brick Street, and sponsors poetry-related events. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Saint Ann’s Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, Silk Road Review, Kentucky Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Silver Birch Press, Boston Literary Magazine, Night Train, Hiss Quarterly, Cherry Blossom Review, Flying Island, Lily, The Centrifugal Eye, Redheaded Stepchild, Flutter, Wheelhouse Magazine, Houston Literary Review, Snow Monkey and Writers’ Bloc; and in these anthologies: MOTIF 3: Work, Twin Muses: Art and Poetry and From the Edge of the Prairie.