Before we shipped out there were these cream-coloured
cue-cards we had to complete—the kind you wrote
your speeches on in grade school—little things, pre-printed
with our blood type, eye colour, prominent scars/birthmarks
/tattoos, height, approximate weight (we’d lose some
in the desert—some, all), a small checkbox to indicate the
accuracy of the above, and a black underlined space, where
we were to write a code-word, something easy to remember
we could to tell the rescue team who busted into wherever
we were being held captive if during a firefight we were
captured and taken prisoner, they would know for certain
it was the right soldier they were bringing home.
I wrote carrots, I think, because I like carrots fresh from the
garden. It could have been potatoes, I wrote, because, well
I like them, too. Each day I head out to the shop, I see
the prisoner of war flag hanging on the wall, big letters, You
are not forgotten. But if I’m being honest, most days, I do.

Andrew Lafleche is an award-winning poet and the author of Ashes, No Diplomacy, Shameless, A Pardonable Offence, One Hundred Little Victories, On Writing, Merica, Merica, on the Wall, and After I Turn into Alcohol. He is editor of Gravitas Poetry. Lafleche holds a Master of Arts in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Gloucestershire. He lives in the Ottawa Valley.