There was this young guy, Hood - I don't remember, maybe never heard, his first name - who rotated from Nam to our unit in Germany. He had the sweetest face, and the saddest eyes, and I had a little crush on him, but I stepped way back because that just couldn't happen. Hood was a loner, and I never saw him hanging with anyone. He was a SP4, combat, airborne, and got busted down the ranks to Private, and then was gone. I don't know what happened to him. This is a fiction about all the sweet guys who got ruined.
ELEGY FOR A VET
The idiots marched him
from the paddies
to the peaks
from the jungle
to the forest
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
Passed out drunk
curiously warm
in a snow bank
in Montana
That's where he died.
That's where he died.
That’s where they found him.
Here's another one:
Counting Cadence
War
American as apple pie
G.I. - government issue
Your soul might belong to God,
but your ass belongs to the US Army.
Hood, sweet young sad eyed G.I.
Pissed off
emptied out
Stretched too thin for fuck you
just wants left alone
Rotated
outta Nam
to cool your heels
do your time
low profile
Deutschland
but
worlds collide
would collide
no matter where
no matter what
Ghost kid
had that look
scared everybody
Could have dissolved
no energy to him
occupied so little space hardly there
but
Couldn’t stay straight
couldn’t abide
pissed off
emptied out
fuck you
insubordinate
Fuck You
no matter who
no matter where
Universal Code of Military
Justice
got him
Count Cadence! Count:
Spec 4
busted
PFC
busted
Private
busted
court martial
stockade
gone
Bring it on down:
airborne
ranger
combat
sad eyed
gone
Hood
sweet young
G.I.
Hood
U.S. Army
made him a ghost
disappeared him off
the face of their
spit shined
brass buckled
highly starched
cold
war
universe
Sweet young sad eyed G.I.
gone.
Once again your words shoot through to the honest and raw. Thank you for your service(s).
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