Words Matter

As a writer, I find it somewhat amusing that it is hard for me to put into words just how profoundly affected I was watching someone else read my work.

Lisa Carrington Firmin is the author of Stories from the Front: Pain, Betrayal, and Resilience on the MST Battlefield, published by Blue Ear Books in April 2022.

Like most writers, I want my words to matter and to make a difference. I write to educate others, to contribute to the discourse throughout our society, and to help drive positive change impacting individuals and organizations on topics like military sexual trauma, PTSD, discrimination, and healing from trauma.

I use various mediums such as nonfiction and poetry to convey the weight of my thoughts and experiences. I know words matter and can have transformational impact, but was totally blown away and humbled last month as the Department of Veterans Affairs incorporated one of my poems into their historic announcement of a change to their mission statement. The first change since 1959.

The motto or mission statement I saw every time I went to a VA facility was:

To care for him who shall have borne the battle, his widow and his orphan.

This is a quote taken from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address. I never really saw myself in that. I wondered each time I saw this: Doesn’t the VA value my service as a woman? As a combat veteran myself, I could relate to the “borne the battle” part, but nothing else. How could the VA have gone so many decades with something so gender exclusive?

The new motto unveiled on March 16 at a ceremony in Washington DC at the Military Women’s Memorial is:

To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.

Now this new one is more inclusive and has the intention of being so to all. It also doesn’t mention the battle part anymore, as there are many who served who did not serve in combat and can feel that they are not true veterans. They are.

I was honored and privileged to have my poem “Invisible Veteran” be part of this historic event. As a writer, I find it somewhat amusing that it is hard for me to put into words just how profoundly affected I was watching someone else read my work. I couldn’t attend the ceremony due to another commitment, so I gave my permission to the VA to allow the White House Liaison to the VA, Marine veteran Jennifer Esparza, read my poem.

I was spellbound, captivated by my own words and how eloquently they were delivered. To have one’s own words spoken so deliberately and passionately on the national stage resonated with me on so many levels. I am a poet, and to have any of what I write read by others is important, but this was on a whole other level. Having the poem included at this event served as validation and affirmation of the writer and poet that I am. The amplification of my poem at this moment in history was dreamlike. Words matter!

What was most impactful to me was that the poem captured so many feelings of other women veterans and helped convey their voice to help influence transformational change within the VA. I know my work is making a difference. I knew that when I wrote and released Stories from the Front: Pain, Betrayal, and Resilience on the MST Battlefield last year.

The fact that it was read by a fellow woman and Latina veteran warmed my heart. I remain forever grateful to VA Deputy Chief of Staff Maureen Elias for reaching out and asking about including my poem. Kudos to the VA for having the courage to update the motto and for selecting Jennifer to read it; she did an amazing job. I was super proud of her, of myself, and of all women veterans. I was finally being “seen”, no longer invisible. (Just click on the video; it will automatically start with the introduction to the poem, just after the 51-minute mark.)

I wrote “Invisible Veteran” in 2021 while I was sitting in the waiting room pending a VA medical appointment. I was so tired of not seeing myself represented throughout the VA medical centers and clinics, and I had grown quite cynical from being asked where my husband was – because there wasn’t a possibility that I was the veteran, right?

So I wrote and filled the poem with my frustrations and disappointment at being discarded and invisible as a woman veteran. It was previously published in Hispanic Executive Magazine, read by me at various events, and featured on my website. I cannot convey how many individuals, both men and women, have commented on its significance. And now, it will be published by Blue Ear Books in an upcoming collection of poems, prose, and art, titled Latina Warrior. It will sit alongside many others just as impactful. Latina Warrior will be released in November 2023.

Lisa Carrington Firmin is the author of Stories from the Front: Pain, Betrayal, and Resilience on the MST Battlefield, published by Blue Ear Books in April 2022.