By Max Lee
11th grade | Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Techonology | Georgia
First place winner, Global Health category

With lines from “They Stood Sentry Over America’s Nuclear Missile Arsenal. Many Worry It Gave Them Cancer.” by Thomas Novelly, a Pulitzer Center reporting project

when rows of electrical boxes decompose into chains of symmetrical coffins,

when single-file lines of veins are poisoned with the residues of negligence,

how many more dust-covered veterans will need to devolve into ash?

they are already carrying sun-dried guilt on their uniforms,

following them into their homes to complete the petrification,

following them into their graves like a carcinogen—

it progresses like this: chemical cesspool first,

                                                                                    bodily bloodbath next,

                                                                                                    gradual graveyard last.

like the circulation of water-cooler talk
                                                                    it spreads without                           warning
like the circulation of toxic fumes
                                                                    it spreads without                           warning
like the circulation of a father’s cancer
                                                                    it spreads without                           warning

the officials—
they say
                 everything is fine                                (warnings all over the place)
they say
                 everything is safe                                (warnings all over the place)
but go on,
                 don your uniform
                                  as your organs don their tumors
                 watch over the controls
                                  as your eyes yellow into warning signs
                 wade through the waters
                                  as you marinate in nightly sweats
                  but remember, they say
                                  illness occurs by chance alone,
                  before concealing the sewage
                                  soaking up the oil
                                  extinguishing the fires
                  with all of your corpses.

the oath of safety—
                  frayed and faded with time.

the past;              (nostalgia;
now inspiring dread)

the future;          (aspirations;
unmade memories lost)

the mixture—
                 inhaled by lungs
                 absorbed through skin
was no elixir but a lethal injection—
the terminal American battle,
finding you always,
whether outside or within—

the present;

with an eye on the epitaph,

with an ear to the headstone,

concentrate; listen to the echoes of yesterday:

                                  this environment
                                                  has a mission to finish—
                                                                    it’s going to track us;
                                                                                     it’s going to reach us;
                                                                                                       it’s going to kill us.

Max Lee is a rising senior at the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Max aims to spotlight the unseen dangers veterans face in military environments through this poem. When he's not writing poetry, Max spends time playing the piano, programming software, watching Broadway musicals, and eating lasagna.

Read more winning entries from the 2024 Fighting Words Poetry Contest.