Skip to content
Military Experience & the Arts
Menu
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Staff
    • Friends
    • Contact Us
  • Publications
    • As You Were
      • Volume 23
      • Volume 22
      • Volume 21
      • Volume 20
      • Volume 19
      • Volume 18
      • Volume 17
      • Volume 16
      • Volume 15
      • Volume 14
      • Volume 13
      • Volume 12
      • Volume 11
      • Volume 10
      • Volume 9
      • Volume 8
      • Volume 7
      • Volume 6
      • Volume 5
      • Volume 4
      • Volume 3
      • Volume 2
      • Volume 1
    • Blue Nostalgia
      • Volume 4
      • Volume 3
      • Volume 2
      • Volume 1
    • Blue Falcon Review
      • Volume 2
      • Volume 1
    • Blue Streak
      • Volume 2
      • Volume 1
    • The Journal of Military Experience
      • Volume 3
      • Volume 2
      • Volume 1
    • Virtual Art Gallery
    • Copyright and Privacy
  • Submissions
  • Ways to Help
    • Writing and Art Resources
    • MEA’s Guide to Short Fiction and Nonfiction
Menu

“The Ebb and Flow of Half-Moons”

–by Andrew Lafleche

–

the underside
maple leaves
ahead the storm
silhouette firebugs
desperate (to be)
extinguished.

the win it all
or lose it all
of thinning dreams
beg mercy
of saccharine ghosts
beneath
the circular course
of season.

let it all alone,
she cries,
wailing fists
beating chest
beneath
the riptide sky
of everyday rain.

there are two men
I’ll never meet:
he who preaches
Christ
and believes;
he who
goes to war
void longing death.

–

–

–


Andrew Lafleche is the award-winning poet and author of No Diplomacy, Ride, and Spring Summer, Winter, Fall. His work uses spoken style language to blend social criticism, philosophical reflection, explicit prose, and black comedy. Following his service as an infantry soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces, Lafleche received an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Gloucestershire. He lives on a farmstead in the Bonnechere Valley. Please visit www.AndrewLafleche.com or follow @AndrewLafleche on Twitter for more information.

–

–

–

 

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.

Subscribe to Announcements via Email

Enter your email to receive notifications of any announcements

Subscribe to announcements via Email

Enter your email to receive notifications of any announcements

© 2026 Military Experience & the Arts | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme