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“Penelope and I”

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by Ellen E. Kazimer

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If she lost just one, for whom would Penelope grieve more?
Odysseus, the husband, or Telemachus, the son?
Both husband and son went to war on a distant shore.
Penelope left her truth in her weaving undone.

Odysseus, the husband, or Telemachus, the son?
Penelope had a hundred-eight suiters, but only one boy.
Penelope left her truth in her weaving undone.
A husband can be replaced, but never a son.

Penelope had hundred-eight suitors, but only one boy.
I hid my truth since his deployment began.
A husband can be replaced, but never a son.
I count the days until he returns from Afghanistan.

I hid my truth since his deployment began.
Both husband and son went to war on a distant shore.
I count the days until he returns from Afghanistan.
If she lost just one, for whom would Penelope grieve more?

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Ellen Kazimer, veteran, military spouse, and military mom, writes for both children and adults. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and recently completed the Writer-to-Writer Mentorship program sponsored by the Association of Writing Professionals and Programs. She is published with Military Experience and the Arts and The Veterans Writing Project. She writes short stories, poetry and continues working on a WWI novel.

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Who We Are

Military Experience and the Arts, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose primary mission is to work with veterans and their families to publish short stories, essays, poems, and artwork in our biannual publication, As You Were: The Military Review, periodic editions of Blue Nostalgia: The Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth and others. To the best of our ability, we pair each author or poet that submits work to us with a mentor to work one-on-one to polish their work or learn new skills and techniques.

Our staff is based all over the country and includes college professors, professional authors, veterans’ advocates, and clinicians. As such, most of our services are provided through email and online writing workshops.

All editing, consultations, and workshops are free of charge. Veterans and their families pay nothing for our services, and they never will.

Under our Publications tab, there are more than two dozen volumes of creative work crafted by veterans and their family members as well as a virtual art gallery. Our blog posts feature short pieces that cover a wide range of opinion editorials, literary reviews, and profiles on veteran artists and writers.

Please consider spending some time navigating our site and reading and seeing the fine work of veterans and their families from around the globe.

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