Short Viet Poems

monkey
playful friend
from Viet Nam
sent by loving soldier
60's...

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A soldier of the Viet Cong
Decided to visit Hong Kong
He wanted to see
Xi strangle the free
Because compromise is SO wrong!...

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viet nam is happening
his leg is gone
i am sorry i say
and thank you
for your sacrifice
it is not enough
but it is all i have...

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A Viet Cong cook with a wok
Was stir-frying rice for his folk
But when Putin spoke
His eyes filled with smoke
The Devil just tagged his own bloke!...

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Army cooks don't do anything wrong
By feeding a "Mad Killer" throng
& that's rather droll
Like a troll on the dole
Who freaks out on a Viet Cong dong...

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A Viet Cong mum with a gong
Would dong it if daughters did wrong 
When the Army made camp
She would light up a lamp
to bong Hong Kong gong all night long!...

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VietNam War – TET

war
60’s
Viet Nam
youth quickly lost
Greyscale TV’s final shock and awe

Written April 28, 2019
Contest: Tetractys This Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Charles Messina...

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rainbow idea
we need prisms in prison
uplifting inmates

plaid idea
We need design on shirts
even on Fox News women

paisley idea
We need to bring back the joy of the sixties
But leave the Viet Nam War behind...

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red hot lava lamp
shaggedy raggedy rug
peace sign plump flower

bell bottom hip huggers
fake fur vests and free love
open hearts, open ideas

nineteen seventy
volkswagon buses and Viet Nam
such a contradiction...

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Peace dove
Bay of Pigs
Childhood nightmare
President Kennedy
Peace dove

Peace dove
Viet Nam
Terror of Youth
Made 1960’s sad
Peace dove

Peace dove
The Gulf War
My daughter’s turn
In charge of deployment
Peace Dove...

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A pretty girl
Posting a letter
In November

Sending it to young soldier
The wind sent her skirts swirling
Expectations were in the air

No one would ever know
How much this act of kindness would mean
To a soldier in Viet Nam on his last day...

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Trump Trying To Skate 

Trump with bone spurs  tried to skate,
Or from Viet Nam service forever wait;
Draft dodger;
Now old cadger;
Position of president for him did create.

Jim Horn

Amazing how America can make
jobs for various people regardless 
of education and experience....

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Budweiser T-shirt
And hair to my jaws,
Viet Nam waning
While Watergate roared:

Was a summer in Milford,
On Long Island Sound,
In a cottage with family—
We swam and we crabbed,
Suffered sunburn a lot,

And bikini-clad girls
Went stealing my eyes
To teach me of beauty
And life’s ultimate prize....

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1972, Cam Thanh 
her envelope is perfumed and fancy 
an exquisite calligraphy with a flair
exuberant scrolled letters showing her personality
tiny hearts and stars at return address
Young G.I. leans back and smiles, 
remembering his carefree life
before he ended up in this coconut forest
in Viet Nam...

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(Machine gun bullets, or is that rain?
    Mud spackled riv'lets down the drain.)

        Did you ever think that the truth was funny?
        Same old joke for any Money.
        Burns are red, bruises blue.
        Enemies here in their village stew;
        And with the same old same old thing to do....

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The child has grown to woman
Scorching burns
turned to hideous scars
She looks into the
mists of the bamboo forest
and still sees
phantoms
running into the village
at dawn
killing families
setting houses on fire
still sees herself
running from the
pain and horror
into the nothingness
of being alone...

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I've worn many types of headgear
since I was a little kid.
Mostly Golf and Baseball caps,
no matter what I did,
I guess I always wore a "Lid"!

But of all the "Lids" I ever wore, 
my favorite - I'll exclaim,
was the Helmet I wore in Viet Nam, 
no matter how annoying it became.
It was my favorite just the same....

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when friend we did get
things have become better yet
his name will be Viet

when poems has a touch
we will always love them much
to heart closely clutch

when Mary gave birth
we would have peace while on earth
Jesus beyond all worth

rode in upper berth
happiness did have a dearth
we would have much mirth...

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steamy jungle
  dense undergrowth
viny overgrowth
  thickets abound --
monkeys chatter
  foretelling doom
snakes hissing
  eerie sirens --
bamboo sticks
  in the ground
spiked with poison
  puncture unsure feet...
all to protect
  an unseen enemy
raining bullets down 
  from nowhere    

~ Viet Nam, 1966 ~...

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Her odd, obnoxious behavior did not bother me
Others were annoyed by Viet Nam born woman named Twee
She might not have done things exactly like the rest of us
But she was polite and respectful, and I never heard her cuss
I was not concerned that her culture was not the same as mine
She never imposed her ways or ideas on me; I thought she was fine....

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In gilded hours and yet again
I still hear the same refrain:

"Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh,
Out with the Yanks,
Let the Viet Cong in!"

Ah me! Times change and I am old.
Lest youth's first ardor, e'er grow cold,
Henry the Fifth is what I'll teach.
Boris, Boris, to the breach.

"Mogg, Mogg. Jacob Rees-Mogg!
Let's hear the bark of the British bull-dog."...

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I stand for the flag
It represents patriotism
I stand for justice, truth, freedom

I stand for the flag
It puts a lump in my throat
I stand to show respect to show love

I stand for the flag
It represents the Viet Nam War for me
And the Gulf War when my daughter enlisted

I stand for the flag
Because to me it represents those who gave the ultimate sacrifice
Standing is the least I can do...

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Old ghosts wandering the streets of old Saigon
Lost spirits of the dead
Died during the endless wars  
Ghostly apparitions around every corner

Here was Kilroy 
and his gang of soldiers
Over there were the Viet Cong 
Waiting to kill them

Saigon is filled with memories like that
Terrible times were had here in Old Saigon
Silently the ghosts parade the city streets
As the tourists drink in the bars...

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Chicken lover woman was engaged to Tom.
He was a chick lover, who got sent to Viet Nam.
When he did not return, she took over his farm.
She knew nothing of livestock, but what was the harm?

She fell in love with his chicks. Their peeps were a delight.
They kept her happy, they made her feel all right.
She was doing what Tom wanted to do when they were wed.
So, she wore chicks everywhere, even on her head....

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She sits with his urn for a long time; in no hurry.
When it is gone, he is gone.
It was bad enough to lose him the first time.
They had only been married two weeks, when he got sent.

She ponders Viet Nam and wonders if anyone was with him.
Maybe that is why she is having such a hard time now.
Letting go of him means losing him again.
She sits with his urn, in no rush.

The sun goes down,
and still they sit....

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