“I Don’t Need Your Permission” |

MEA 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 bi-annual publication, As You Were: The Military Review, periodic editions of Blue Nostalgia: The Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth, and others. Each author or poet who submits work to us is afforded the chance to work one-on-one with a mentor to polish their work or learn new skills and techniques.

Our editors are based all over the country and includes college professors, professional authors, veterans’ advocates, and clinicians.

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 a 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.

“I Don’t Need Your Permission”

by Merci McKinley

–

I don’t need your permission to live my truths
I bore the should-haves before
I kissed the could-haves many times over
I touched the would-haves inside my thoughts

I don’t need your permission to live my truths
I done traveled the roads with no clear direction
I skirted fine lines of what I thought to be right
I done fought battles you know nothing about

I don’t need your permission to live my truths
I done lived inside the box I created for myself
I scratched and clawed myself out
I shamelessly stand tall on my own two feet

I don’t your permission to live my truths