“During a Sandstorm, in a Heat Wave, at Fort Bliss” is one of two haunting yet beautiful poems from our Spring 2015 issue that are inspired by Jasper Lo‘s military days.

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THERE ARE TIMES I CANNOT STAND
in my skin; it lies
on me like a visitor. Oh, it happens

without warning, creeping across
my shoulders before I wake; behind
my eyes when I scrape my tongue. 

Sometimes it drips down my back
when I drive home from Bliss. But I feel
it above me at night, when my circling fan thumps.

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JASPER LO is a Chinese-American twenty-something US Army veteran. He is recovering from the trauma of being raised Chinese in New York and is a graduate of Boston University.