Cold War Clientele - Benguet Province, August, 1978
My thumbs pressed on the trigger.
The M-2 bucked its load.
I squinted down the barrel
And watched his head explode.
An early morning ambush,
A steaming Luzon hell,
For Ferdi and Imelda,
Our Cold War clientele.
The mission was generic:
Suppress the NPA*.
It didn't really matter
Just who got in the way.
I carried out my orders
And did what I was told,
But Christ, the kid I wasted
Was only twelve years old.
*New People’s Army – a Maoist insurgency
Copyright © Michael Kalavik | Year Posted 2021
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