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Laos (a Corpsman's report)
It seems to me that the sweetish
foul odor of the jungle will stay
in my nostrils forever, or at least
until the day I die and join my buddies,
Consider these facts if you will:
Some 206 bones make up
the adult’s fragile frame, one
that a mortar shell can fragment
into twice that number.
An enemy’s partial remains
spread out in Laos’ jungle rot;
the rest hangs suspended
in dense growth among orchids.
Days later, we went out again,
in search of some of our own.
Again we passed
that shattered skeleton.
How quickly the forest
consumes this feast.
The man’s hollow skull,
stripped of flesh and hair,
looks small--like a monkey’s.
I wonder how it could have held
such powerful emotions:
dreams, and, no doubt—
desperate cunning.
Now its empty eye sockets
reflect none of that
as they stare at the rags
hanging in the tree canopy.
Some morbid prick considered
bagging the skull for a souvenir, but
then he turned away
and looked in the direction
of approaching small arms fire.
Seconds later, he too
gazed skyward with dying eyes.
Comments
c lynn brooks
Sat, 2020-12-05 16:13
wow
this is excellent . It reminds me of the way my husband used to write. He was a Viet Nam Vet and was never the same when he came home
Chrys
check out our chat room open to all 24/7
Dandini
Sun, 2020-12-06 19:08
Is that 3.30am or 3.30pm (ie
Is that 3.30am or 3.30pm (ie 15.30) and is that GMT?
[This is a duplicate account of Edna Sweetlove and been permanently suspended]
VanRyan
Sun, 2020-12-06 07:27
Dear C, Lynn.
That war affected an entire generation. Truly sorry for your loss.
Van.
Ray Whitaker
Sun, 2020-12-06 18:16
Very nice piece.
Duplicate entry quite by accident
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Raywhitakerblog.wordpress.com
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Ray Whitaker
Sun, 2020-12-06 18:15
Very nice piece.
I have read many pieces from Vietnam Vets... done a lot of work with them as well.
Thanks for setting this out for all of us. War poetry is rare.
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Raywhitakerblog.wordpress.com
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VanRyan
Sun, 2020-12-06 18:46
thanks Ray,
it takes a lot of courage to relive actual events in conversations. Thanks again for reading and your work with vets.. Van.
Dandini
Sun, 2020-12-06 19:06
Those who invade countries
Those who invade countries illegally must expect to pay the price. Sadly it is the cannon fodder who do so, not the politicians or generals.
PS What is a "corpsman"? Is that a wordplay upon "corpse"? If so, it's clever.
[This is a duplicate account of Edna Sweetlove and been permanently suspended]
Ray Whitaker
Sun, 2020-12-06 19:33
A corpsman is a medic
However corpsmen were US Navy, and medics were US Army
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Raywhitakerblog.wordpress.com
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VanRyan
Mon, 2020-12-07 08:17
Hi, to all.
You got it right. Dandini.
My thanks to ye all. Happy Holidays. Van