“War Cry”

by Stan Kempton

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In the young faces digitally plastered on the marble wall, they wait through the hours staying young as the minute they died, when they died, had died, for their cause of the day. It is for the sake of their children raised fatherless I see the everything lost and gained and then recaptured. Can the lingering memories of a father be a father? Father, up on the wall, who is your neighbor? Was he a friend? Did you know him over there? Friend up on the wall, do you know him now? They bleed no more, hurt no more but dream in color and forever swim in the concrete we stand on which is paved by our memories that will never let go of that someone’s son, someone’s lover, someone’s brother. Someone on the wall, let us gaze at you, touch you and heal, and to love you no matter the cause, the crusade, the war of the day. Because of you we weep freely.

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After high school, Stan Kempton started his adult life in the Marine Corps. He currently lives in New Orleans with his wife of wife of 36 years. His short stories and poetry have appeared in New Author’s Journal, Charleston Anvil, 2023 ‘Best Of’ for Valient Scribe, The Wisconsin Review, Seems, Tribes, and two short stories in 2025 Wordrunner anthology, with the novel excerpt, ‘Minder Root,’ being selected as editor’s choice.

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