She joined the army just to get away
and didn’t care ‘bout going off to war.
At thirteen she said: ‘I ain’t gonna stay’
in a loveless house often filled with whores.
Her momma died when she was but a girl.
and the pimp she called ‘pops’ was a deadbeat.
Still he was all she had left in this world.
If poor was a pan, fire licked her feet.
An average girl with average grades
could think of no way else to leave this state.
Being all she could be while getting paid
gets her going until her release date.
O yeah, army life is part of her plan
in fighting fires to get her own pan.
Author notes
Just writing about folks who served or are serving.
About a week ago, this guy jumped a body of water to save a mother and her two girls when the mom drove off a pier. Anyway, I thought of George Washington. I mean, a lot of folks saw the accident but this man acted. George and a lot of others (in his day) acted when action was needed.
See, most folks (like cops) who enlist, enlist for a reason, even if it isn't always patriotic (Tillman). I remember why I enlisted...
Blah, blah, blah... Right?
Track Star
He was a track star on the football team,
a teen himself who had fathered a kid.
He was good, yeah, but not the best it seems.
See, scholarships for his game was a dream.
One he didn’t have nor one that he lived—
this track star who starred on a high school’s team.
So he enlisted, staying lean and mean
to support his child through an army gig.
He was a good guy but not the best it seems;
Good enough to set recon’s laser beams
when targeting where the enemy hid,
this track star who ran suicides for teams.
It was suicide for the green machine’s
squad of soldiers each serving six year bids;
seven good guys who did their best it seems
to fight off the troops intel hadn’t seen.
Now stories are told to a soldier’s kid
of a track star who starred on his school’s team.
He was a good guy. Yeah, the best is seems.
Ehhh.... Whatever....
Comments
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War is always a difficult subject for me to ponder. I lost a cousin in Vietnam, and had an older brother who went, returned to serve another tour of duty and returned home. He seems pretty stable, although he never talks about his experience over there and when someone mentions war he walks out of the room.
I respect each and every soldier who goes off to fight for Democracy. I also detest a government which deems that killing is the necessary entity to fix problems (whatever their scope). I am perplexed. But I am not so naive that I don't realize the necessity of war, and the fact that it will happen time and time again.
When we invaded Iraq, I sat and watched on television. I cried thinking of all the lives that were destroyed in the wake of "shock and awe". I yelled at my TV when Bush said that he was a "war president". I cried last night when Obama when to meet the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
October was a wretched month there for our soldiers. I am patriotic. I grew up with a father that was a seventeen year soldier, who flew a flag in front of our house everyday of my youth.
It saddens me that with all our intelligence and technological advancements. we still wage war. Well, thanks Dez for making me spill my feelings here. It's been a while since I touched so expressively on a subject that I rarely like to discuss.
Good work love.
Always ♥
Renee
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i like this well penned piece. keep writing poet
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I like it ...
and evidently so do some highly intelligent people from what I see below.
NIce to see you're still hanging in there.
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Yes, there are patriots who put their own butts on the block, not like the current crowd of right wing phonies, who even conspire to underpay young men and WOMEN to go off and die for their profits. Iraq paid some people about $200 Billion in profits on the Trillion plus- [so-far] we spent there, I imagine those families those super-richer families had a lot of their children out there dodging roadside explosives, think I heard of that: "debutante daughters capture a squad of Iraqi tanks without breaking a manicured nail, or raising a plucked eyebrow..."
George Bush once described his political base once as: the haves and the have-mores, he said nothing about volunteers for combat service.
There are about 4,000 families here that have a lot less... just my thoughts... well done piece here...PK
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An excellent poem, Dez, and a hard look underneath the lid of patriotism. I didn't get the reference to the word "pan." I assume the way it's used in the poem is an Americanism?
Impressive work,
Bill
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The girl here used to say: "From the frying pan into the fire" or something like that.
Yeah, things are different. I mean, during WWII, we joined in late, yes, but while our boys fought oversees, Americans did their parts--collected cans, ate bananas (or cream I can't remember) in their Moonpies... We supported our troops. We supported the war. Men joined knowing where they were going. What they were used for.
A high school English teacher told our class once that her hubby, a Vietnam Vet, doesn't put the fact that he served on his resume. It was like a black eye. But he was privileged. He had a degree and was an officer. With that, he enlisted to keep from being drafted (when other assholes hid behind their daddies--Bush--or ran to Canada). Yeah, he did and seen things no young man should do or see but he came back and built a life.
As a kid, there were two vets on my block. I thought they were cool but as I aged I realized that the rest of the world saw them as bums. They were constantly high on MJ or drunk on Mad Dog. They couldn't adjust when they returned. They were drafted. They had potential as teens. I used to run errands for their moms. And I know how this nation felt about 'Nam.
Boys over in Iraq and Afghanistan are dying. But we don't know their stories. Who they are... Why they do it... How do they feel about America or the lives they left... The lives they hope to build...
Anyway. Thanks bro.
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wonderful flow... and a peek inside of your mind
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