MEMORIAL DAY
Corporal Jimmy Mack
Training
just training
live fire
chaos
chaos
training
and
Corporal Jimmy
Mack
loses control
of his platoon
Jimmy Mack
leader-of-men
lifer
mother-fucker
most likely to be fragged
most likely to be fragged
loses control
drops to a knee
and
I’ve got a
bead
like the true
cross
on the back of his
lifer head
freeze
freeze
finger on the trigger
and the water gets deeper
breathe
and the water gets deeper
breathe
Jimmy Mack
you are
one
lucky
son-of-a-bitch
me too
Jimmy Mack
me too
Jimmy Mack
I am not
going to
kill you
today.
Sergeant Jimmy
Mack's number came up in VietNam.
The idiots marched
him
from the paddies
to the peaks
from the jungle
to the beach
from the cold war
to the tropics
and back again.
Anymore –
he didn’t give a
shit.
Beyond anywhere
he watched death
smudge everything
even the air.
Worlds collide
Flesh panics
Shoots smack with
the whores in Saigon
drops through
smooth and dark
ultimate airborne
falling
forever
forever
falling
Back in the world
passed out drunk
curiously warm
in a snow bank
in Montana
That’s where they
found him.
That’s where he
died.
Remember
there is no such thing
as a
Happy Memorial Day
there is no such thing
as a
Happy Memorial Day
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