Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 52.14.218.79
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
After the Vietnams and the Me Leis Steel skull Stone eye Blooming jungle rot Itching on the crotch Jack scratches the trigger of his M14 Kisses the golden egg And throws like the Babe. Jack is now back from hell and trying to cope In fourteen breathing, and moving pieces Held with a pound of steel and ounces of hope. Sitting a seat apart from me on the redeye flight When all was quiet and both of us were tight He was heading back to hell after a brief home stay I asked him why do soldiers fight, and die It’s such a lost cause, such a waste of life. “You don’t do it for your country or for freedom Or for that crap they howl about on TV. You do it for your buddies,” Jack said. “They offed three of us out of twelve.” He looked out the window into the hidden fears, “We got them good,” he said, “We got nine ears,” And didn’t glance at me; no cheers for the loot, no jeers. That’s the mathematics of war, the logic of the battle Figured out on an Ohio porch, some California night With Arizona heat sprouting cactus thorns for guilty souls. Some rickets-ridden urchin Lurching behind a bush Probably ahead of a burly Charlie Around and around in the mind One muddy foot One G. I. boot Lordy-fordy, how devious and sly – This Charlie pair has to die. So, Jack kisses the butt of his rifle Tickles the crack of his grenade And down goes the child Down by the bush only the child Crafting nightmare and despair On every porch of this land of care. Jack is on his thousandth retake: Tries to miss, inserts distraction with a hiss Tries on glasses with bulbous lenses Fingers flat, fat, knobby and arthritic That clumsy little rat Not too good at bat Everything you can do to derail That fatal launch of death and fail But there is no escape going back. Jack didn’t aim just to maim He aimed to kill and blood to spill But he did miscalculate, and can’t undo what is done. Back then he scuttled around the fated bush for ears And now, walks back and forth in the backyard Shedds tears for his wrongs and dodging fears. For a while, the radios clarion lyndons Nixon away despair with a blare: “My fallow Amuricans . . .” He is tired but hides his horror for the here and now “I want to make this absolutely point . . .” All night Jack listens to disoriented roosters crow Tries to unglue shirt from sweaty skin On the prowl for Constitutional comfort for Me Lei A clause, or some amendment that justifies the way, The basic facts of blood multiplication in the U.S.A. Ah, but there hasn’t been a blessed massacre yet Nothing like that was ever justified for any threat And let us pray that it never will. We must not forget.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required