Purple Heart by Janet M. Greenstreet

From a pallet on the ground I write home that my shrapnel wound is healing.
I joke about being named to the hospital’s board of directors. This is not like any medical facility I have ever seen: dirt floor operating room, a single light bulb swinging overhead, air sprayed with blood and bone. I watch my breath escape into the frigid night. Wonder how soon I’ll be back on the line.

Red Cross stationery—lead pencil confession.

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Janet M. Greenstreet is a writer and photographer living and working in the Philadelphia area. Her work has been published in Frogpond journal, bottle rockets press, Red Flag Poetry, Philly Beer Scene magazine, and on billboards in the Pennsylvania countryside.