Nora Zilkie is completing the Master of Arts—Integrated Studies program at Athabasca University. She began her undergraduate studies at Arctic College in Yellowknife, NWT, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in writing from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She currently resides in Sooke, B.C.

Writing about traumatic events in my own life, and reading and listening to the stories of others who have experienced suffering in their lives, has helped me to heal.

This poem is about bar talk, and that kind of talk is called war stories.

War Stories

Come over to
The dark side
We’ve got cookies,
The bumper sticker invited.
O but the dark side
Is inviting;
We’ve got stories
Ugly, black,
But O so interesting.
You can dig around
In the mess, fall –
And feel better about yourself.
You’re not so bad
After all,
Others are worse.
Savour them,
Play with the dirt.
When you immerse
Yourself in it,
Nothing will hurt.
. . . . . . . .