VVAW: Vietnam Veterans Against the War
VVAW Home
About VVAW
Contact Us
Membership
Commentary
Image Gallery
Upcoming Events
Vet Resources
VVAW Store
THE VETERAN
FAQ


Donate
THE VETERAN

Page 28
Download PDF of this full issue: v32n1.pdf (13.8 MB)

<< 27. Vietnam Journal: Willimantic - 11.10.0029. Army/Navy Surplus >>

With Apologies to Lincoln and JFK

By Mike Gehl

[Printer-Friendly Version]

On those warm Southeast Asian nights
we loved the colors of the firefights.
"The better angels of our nature" might
alert us to something not quite right
beyond perimeter, bracketed, out of sight.

Ordered not to think of distant carnage,
told not to feel what was real:
rumors, tremors, tracers and C-rats,
attitudes of lifers, my soul's on the line.
Mantra: "It don't mean nothin.'"
(10 days and a wake-up.)

But the colors blew our minds!
It's unholy to love this stuff, right?
We ask not what we did for our country
but what our country
did to us.

 

Mike Gehl



<< 27. Vietnam Journal: Willimantic - 11.10.0029. Army/Navy Surplus >>