“Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C.” by Michael Martone

Attribution: Unsplash image by Caleb Fisher @calebjamesfisher

Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Washington, DC

There are 144 black granite panels that form the wall that grow in height as the visitor
goes forward through time and deeper into the ditch. The stone on which the names of
the dead are inscribed is from Bangalore, India, and selected because of its ability to
take a reflective mirrored finish. You see yourself in the stone looking back at yourself
reading the names. In 1912, a Captain McClintock of the British Army invented the
Bangalore torpedo in Bangalore, India, an explosive device designed to breech hard
defensive works like barbed wire, like walls. There are 58,320 names inscribed. Over
100 are misspelled. It is thought that five million people visit the wall each year.

“Bastion Cities or Trace Italienne” by Michael Martone
“The Athenian Long Walls” by Michael Martone
“Bam, Iran” by Michael Martone

Contributor’s note: Michael Martone was born on August 22, 1955 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Since 1977, he has written nearly 30 books and chapbooks. Until his retirement in 2020, he was a professor at the Program in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana; Fort Wayne is Seventh on Hitler’s List, and nearly 30 other books and chapbooks, many of them centered in the Midwest. Many of his works challenge accepted conventions of writing such as those found in biographical notes—like this one where Martone writes about himself.