P T S D / L O VmE

Nicholas P. Gaffney

  I often wake up with the sole purpose of slinging my rifle over my shoulder so that I can walk outside to take a piss. I haven’t been deployed for five years but this happens at least once a week. My wife must tell me to lie back down. She lays her arm over my body and it reminds me of the strap from my rifle. “Arm or sling?”  I wonder. Different chapters of my life.  Different lovers in separate times.