In Country:
A Viet Nam Sequence
written by: Louis Dorwaldt
An eternity of days
Trekking and shivering
We trade dog tags
The boy and I
Each on his chest
The other wears
Each in his heart
The other beats
Humping the jungle
A nightmare in dreams
Follow the ridgeline
Soaking and chafing
Powerful madness assails
Slipping into dreams
Boys humping terror
Trek into fire-fights
Orchid blossoms daze
Fire-fights teach
What a moment is
AK-47s vie with M-16s
In an algebraic expression of violence
Each striving to factor first
The flesh called enemy
Punctuation marks
M-60s trace the night
Incoming and outgoing
Death finding the enemy
Green and red vie
Each contending the night
Squinting ambush eyes
Cool perfect murder
The heart of a song
A soldier’s soul soaring
Tumble crash splash boom
Mumbling and weeping
Black blossoms blooming
A sucking chest wound
Flowering fragrance
An ambush of buzzing bees
Attacking colors
Kills become a rosary of faces
Like dew upon dandelions
Frightened into fire-fights
Eyes wide when left alive
Murder in the hands of boys
Squinting and singing
In the hands of boy-children
Playing a deadly game
Gunmetal blue eyes
Some of the boys
M-16s in hand smile
Photos home to mom
Some of the boys
Itch to squeeze triggers
Some of the boys
Scream when they shoot
Cry when shot
Just from playgrounds came
Most of the boys
Fatigues and blood
An eternity of days
In a land of tears
The slump of shoulders
Powerful madness
Slipping into dreams
Viet Nam erases
A soldier screams
Forever in dreams
It is only right
Wars into memories
Manacles of might
While dandelions bloom
Silence and darkness
Maple seeds chase each other
Across the dooryard
Rocking in memories
An old soldier sits at the window
Writing the end of his song
Following the ridgeline
Have you seen the Vet
Down from the mountains he came
Out of the jungles
- Silence - November 23, 2020
- In Country: A Viet Nam Sequence - August 8, 2020
- I Have No Interest In Shooting Raccoons - June 18, 2020
