I wrote "Love, Your Son" and the next poem "Vengeance" for an English project. Over the summer, my class had been assigned to read Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried which is about his experiences as a soldier in the Vietman Conflict. We then had to do a project that corresponded with the book. I, of course, chose the poetry one. The assignment was to write two conflicting poems, one from American soldier's point of view and the other from a Vietcong soldier's. It was a particularly challenging assignment because last year, a girl did this same assignment and wrote a magnificent piece! My objective was to create two pieces that of equal literary value and would evoke the same power emotions but that came from different angles that her poem did. Love, Your Son Dear Mom and Dad,       Glossed over lies all seem so stale!       Forced happy words and trivial facts       To hide the terror and the truth. How's life back home?       It's Hell here. Did Barbara win the spelling bee? And Tommy, Did he like the patches I sent?       Do they even remember me? Does Peggy ever come around?       She'll never know I love her,       That she's the only thing       That keeps me from losing it. The lieutenant keeps us busy, "Old Grinder," we call him when he's not around. We dig trenches,       And graves for the dead, Search little villages,       For what, God only knows, And generally just move around a lot.       It's so lonely here,       In this God-forsaken place,       Nothing but the knowledge that this minute might be your last,       Because every tree hides a gook,       And every root a booby trap. Thank Gram for me for sending those cookies. Only a couple got broken on the way.       I miss you all so much! I'm seeing the world, Mom, just like you always wanted,       I don't want to be here! I'm working hard, Dad,       I'm scared to die,       But even more scared to fail! To win that medal just like you did.       I just want you to be proud of me. Love, Your Son                                           Back