My Graphic Novel

About My Graphic Novel:
Poems about the Vietnam War, comic books, a father and a son, intergenerational PTSD, and forgiveness. "Here is the soldier who brought the war home inside him, the boy who strives to locate his father’s heart inside all that frightening noise, the boy who draws stories with himself as superhero, with a twist. Dennis Etzel, Jr.’s new poems are spare, lance-sharp probes of the battle within, its reflection in the world we inhabit, and the world we create."

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from My Graphic Novel


Curled over for the walk back
home through the blizzard, my pages
touch the landscape until, hooked
by the wind, they detach
from my staples. My story
is visible, if someone would
reassemble us.

 
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[panel one]  With his comic book artwork, Bill Sienkiewicz saved the world every Friday.

[panel two]  My thoughts were stuck in a gutter between panels. 

[panel three]  Inside.

[panel four]  Somewhere, a penciler penciled an exploding wall.

[panel five]  An inker inked over the debris adding details.

[panel six]  The colorist colored the center with red and yellow.

[panel seven]  I stared at the artwork until a flash of red and yellow hit me.

[last panel]  The explosion knocked me clear.