My Republican Father

Were his nightmares made
reliving the flights          
he had navigated
to bomb sites?

His strong belief
that it had to stop,
the gassing of Jews and Gypsies,
did not soothe the years
of night screams
in our safe suburban house.

He would scream today
while awake, I am sure
to see imagined threats
being rounded up as scapegoats again
to feed one man’s ego

My father, the staunch Republican,
would never support a man who breeds hate,
who intimidates to build power
He’d known the atrocities such a man birthed,
and the ripple effect of such malice

 

Photo was taken of my father, Coy Smith, in 1946. He survived WWII having served as a navigator on a fighter plane in the American Army Air Force. He was stationed in England during the war and flew multiple missions over Germany.