Iraq, Afghanistan and Desert Storm Veteran, Poet and Writer Frances Wiedenhoeft With Her Poem “Hunger Is My Friend”
22-year, 3-tour Veteran Frances Wiedenhoeft now spends her time giving back to the veteran community, the writing community, and working for social justice. I hope you are enjoying paperpoppypress.com
Hunger is my friend. The empty
hollo wness
of it
fueling
a measured
flow
of adrenaline,
S
h
ar
pening
senses
so that I can hear
more acutely changes
in the multitonal
beat of my pa
tients
heart,
like the deep croaking of an old bullfrog,
rrrrbttt rrrrbtttt,
Monitor the w-h-o-o-s-h, the sigh,
as I push air into the patient’s lungs,
hear the slightest wheeze or change in pressure
Hunger keeps me AWAKE,
fuels me
as bloody night
r
u
n
s
into bloody day
and
back to night.
Hunger is my ally against the long s c r e a m of emotion,
hungerismy
p o
w
er
food becomes the enemy
in the battle for emotional obliteration
hunger becomes a habit.
After I left the bloody land and returned to the nation of bountiful
meals food no longer made sense, platters and serving bowls
laid out for my homecoming fluoresce under unnatural
light, I don’t even remember what I like, I eat the
plate offered to show gratitude and normalcy,
I choke down a morsel and excuse myself
a
cube
of chicken here,
a bite
of pasta salad there,
signify my gradual reintegration
combat soldier
to restless civilian
but
I give you hunger
as frame
a of
reference
to understand my experience,
to know
my war.
Frances Wiedenhoeft studied creative writing at Madison College. Her work can be found on warwriterscampaign.org, in the 2015 Ariel Anthology, Praxis Magazine Online, the American Journal of Nursing, the Spring 2020 issue of Deadly Writers Patrol, The Adelaide Review Literary Magazine, and Veteran Voices Magazine.
She was a finalist in poetry in the Adelaide Literary Magazine Award Contest 2024 for She won the Pallas Athene Best story award for “Glory”
She completed a residency at Write On Door County in March 2021.
She is a writer, poet, mother, and grandmother. She is also a twenty-two-year Army veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Desert Storm.
She volunteers as a reader for the Gemini Review.