maybe the same helmets or badges

          worn by the members of the Bosnian army

                  maybe it can even be from

                  one of the hundred thousand

                  who died or from one of the living

                  who no longer could bear to hold it

 

         or maybe one of the knives that were used to kill these men or women

         and they can be displayed in right next to the vase and the art piece

         from the last vacation

 

         I, too, have war paraphernalia in my home

                 but I didn’t pay for it.

         My father brought the badge he wore during the war

         and the years of his life taken from him

 

                   My mother came here with the paraphernalia hidden underneath her skin

                                                                       smuggled through customs via open wounds

                                         shards of shrapnel

                                         a worried husband

                                         grieving families

 

                                         dead friends

 

        this war paraphernalia

               came with four years of memories

                       that we can never forget

                                four years of memories

                                          that will forever be hidden underneath

her skin

 

open wounds

 

         memories within this souvenir

                 not unlike yours

                           your memories of the trip you took

                           and went home from

                           with decorations for your home

                           and nothing underneath      your skin