“Tin Soldiers”

by A.M. Arndt 

We stand shoulder to shoulder,
like two silver soldiers:
attentive, at ease.
We salute a life less ordinary,
ready as two twin tins can be
for any unexpected thing to spring.
From metal born,
from same mold torn,
our service shines in details worn.
In the trenches and adventures,
we are bonded as life’s soldiers.
In the box, out of the box,
we are pop-off pop-tops,
even when life wears our colors off.


A.M. Arndt is an Oregon educator and writer that has been recognized by the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Contest and been published in Into the Void, Capsule Stories, Poetry|Palisatrium, Discover Beaverton, and Antithesis Journal. The author’s collections, The Younger Years: Behind Closed Doors and My Roaring Twenties: Masks Off, can be found at Amazon.com. The author’s Facebook page can be found under A.M. Arndt, #writingofamarndt. Easy links and contact information can be found at: https://sites.google.com/view/thewritingofamarndt/home