[“Ours in an old war,” says the poet Kathryn
Bratt-Pfotenhauer. “It has a beard and calls itself Uncle.” ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WAR  
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Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer
January 1, 2022
Beloit Poetry Journal
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_ “Ours in an old war,” says the poet Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer.
“It has a beard and calls itself Uncle.” _

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A Brief History of the War

Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer

“The war is always going badly.”

* Catherynne M. Valente

The war came. Like the other girls, I made myself pretty for the war.
I painted snakes and birds on my hands in the style of the war, I cut
a black line across my eyes and called that warpaint. I walked the dog
on the war’s red whip. I pledged allegiance to the war. I proudly
parrotted the war’s slogans at pep rallies and assemblies. My
parents were agents of the war and the war gave them purpose. My
brother became one of the war’s diplomats, so I learned the
mathematics of war and the politics of war and that my politics
didn’t matter; only the war mattered, the ration cards eaten for
fuel when the war took the food. The war had a beating heart, and it
played a tambourine, _this, our amazing country, we fight for you_.
The war kept time to the footfalls of soldiers. The war took their
boots and their toes as trophies, and then took their coats, turned
them to tatters. Ours is an old war. It has a beard and calls itself
Uncle. It beckons, and we sit on its lap, ready to spill. 

Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer’s work has previously been published or is
forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Crazyhorse, Poet Lore, Beloit
Poetry Journal, and others. The recipient of a 2022 Pushcart Prize,
they have won awards from the Ledbury Poetry Festival and Bryn Mawr
College, as well as received support from The Seventh Wave and Tin
House. Their chapbook, Small Geometries, is forthcoming with Ethel
Zine & Micro Press in April/May 2023. They attend Syracuse
University’s MFA program.

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