It’s 11:11 am on November 11

Dad rises from his armchair, the mauve one
he sits watching Mets games all summer.
This year for the first time, I must help him stand.
He’s at attention, thrusting his willowed chest,
raising his right hand to his forehead in salute.
He stands erect for precisely one minute,
as he has each year since his honorable
discharge, only this year he is not in his Army
dress greens. This year, his arm trembles
like leaves in autumn’s wind, a branch arriving
in the form of a nurse guiding him back
to his seat as Mom arrives & caresses his cheek.
Dad never talks about combat, never shares
war stories. What is he thinking as he pays tribute
to the fallen he fought with, & the dead whose names
he never knew yet considered brothers? I stand
beside him, my hand on his shoulder, a paperweight.

*

David Colodney is a poet living in Boynton Beach, Florida. He is the author of Gen X Redux, forthcoming in 2026 from Main Street Rag Publishing, and the chapbook Mimeograph (Finishing Line Press, 2020). A Best of the Net and three-time Pushcart nominee, his work has appeared in multiple journals. David currently serves as an associate editor of South Florida Poetry Journal and is an ardent supporter of Liverpool Football Club. If you are looking for him, he can often be found at the Lion & Eagle Pub watching Liverpool matches.