Tuesday, May 22, 2018

TWO SOLDIERS


MEMORIAL DAY



Corporal Jimmy Mack

Training
just training

live fire
chaos

training

and
Corporal Jimmy Mack
loses control of his platoon

  Jimmy Mack
leader-of-men
lifer mother-fucker
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

finger on the trigger
and the water gets deeper

breathe

Jimmy Mack
you are
one
lucky
son-of-a-bitch

me too

Jimmy Mack

I am not
going to
kill you
today.


Sergeant Jimmy Mack's number came up in VietNam.





SP4 Hood
                          
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


RW
Seattle
05/22/18 




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