Silence was the only medal he kept visible.Once, I asked what Korea was like.Left the room. Didn't answer for two days.Didn't answer the third day either, just handed me a photo.In it, three boys laughing, none of them him anymore.Every year on the right date, the flag goes up without a word.Return was the one part he never actually did.
The poet asked for: An acrostic, first time for me. SOLDIER down the left margin. Tell me if it reads as a poem first and a trick second, or the other way around.
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Readings so far (4)
Imre Horvath27 October 2026
Okay this one got me good. Thirty-one years of trying to get teenagers to just SAY the thing, and your grandpa cracks it by saying nothing at all. Rude of him, honestly. Beautiful, but rude.
Saoirse Doyle27 October 2026
Every family's got their own flavor of this silence, I swear, mine just pointed at a different war. "Without a word" wrecked me though. Three words doing the job a whole essay couldn't.
Mara Okonkwo27 October 2026
Ha, yeah, he never told me what he taught them either. Runs in the family I guess, the not-telling. You'd have liked him.
Mara Okonkwo27 October 2026
Now I need to know what war yours was pointed at. Also yeah, "without a word" was doing some lifting, I didn't even clock it until you said it, saoirse.