Monday, September 15, 2014

War Makes You Dead



War is thrilling

Going through all the rituals that preceded a day’s march

You admire the fluid symmetries of troops

Singing “Lemon Tree” as we threw down the parts


A peculiar half step moving from shade into bright sunlight

The trees were thick;it took nearly a hour to cut an IZ for the dustoff

and the booby-trapped 105 round blew him into a tree


War makes you a man

Everybody’s sweet little virgin girlfriend

To generalize about war is like generalizing about peace

Closed his eyes for a moment and let out a short throat-clearing sigh

It’s astonishing. It fills the eye.

War is drudgery

The aesthetic purity of absolute moral indifference

It was still alive, though just barely, just in the eyes

The white bone of his arm

The parts were just hanging there

A deep pinkish red spilled out on the river

The spiritual texture of a great ghostly fog

The vapors suck you in

The only certainty is overwhelming ambiguity

Cradled his rifle and went off by himself

Dancing it with short tight stroked of the wrist

His face was blank in the dusk

War is hell

2 comments:

  1. I like the stories you imply with this. Nice work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really enjoyed the quotes you picked. The way you choice to put them was very powerful. It really has great imagery.

    ReplyDelete