[lit-ideas] Frameworks
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 15:32:42 -0700
06-06
6-11-06
Frameworks
I
They leaped out of the shadows,
Their hands back preparing to throw,
I thought "grenades" and fired
Frantically but one succeeded
And still firing I flung myself
Down behind our ruined Vee
To await the explosion
Which never came; peeping
Up I saw the rock. "A rock?"
We are at war, and they throw rocks?
My sergeant walked out inspecting
The dead, shaking his head
As he did so. "Stupid bastards!"
"I thought they had grenades,"
I stammered as he poked
About with the toe of his boot.
"Don't see any." He stopped
And picked up an AK47.
"Just this." He tried to pull the slide,
"But it doesn't work." "Damn," I said.
"I didn't need to fire."
"Belay that," he said,
Slinging the AK toward me.
"You don't and you'll get us killed.
They probably set the IED
That blew our Vee.
Save your tears for when
They blow me all to hell."
I gulped and looked back down
The street. "Uh, Sarge. Shouldn't
We be heading back?" "Yeah," he said
Following my gaze. So we walked, and
My rifle was readier than my thoughts.
I searched the windows and roof tops not
Knowing whether I'd shoot the next thing leaping.
II
"What of the AK? What of the IED?"
"I know," the Sarge said. "It's bullshit.
But that's what they do back there
At HQ - some bleeding heart lieutenant
Who's never walked the streets
Thinks it all sounds bogus - a load
Of crap, but I saw it all go down
Don't worry." I nodded and worried another patch
Through my M16 before setting it aside.
The complaint had come from the village.
I hadn't seen them watching. I shook
My head. Where had they been? Not
There and they hadn't seen what we saw.
I pawed through my gear
Finding some ammo, loading another
Magazine and then looked up at the doorway
And the night beyond. Corporal Reed
Saw me and smiled. "Think they'll
Come looking to get even?" he laughed.
I blushed and said, "you leave that open?"
He laughed again and swung it shut.
"You know," he said, standing by my bunk,
"They set the IED that blew your Vee."
"Or saw it done," I added. "Yeah," he said.
So some old men come looking for
Those guys they knew weren't armed
And won't believe what went down.
"No more do I," I sighed. "No more do I."
III
Later in a Palo Alto hot tub
An angry columnist vented his fury
To his hand-held recorder:
"The unmitigated gall,
The Geneva violations,
The crimes against humanity
By all those so-called Marines
Who slaughter the unarmed
And innocent. How many martyrs
Did they make? How many new recruits
With their vile behavior?" he snorted
Into the recorder then hit the mute.
Leaning back he took another
Sip of Johnny Walker Black.
Then checked his watch and calculated
The time remaining and the word.
"Hey hon," he yelled
"Put on the Shostokovich.
I've got at least five hundred
Words to go and my mood
Still needs refinement.
IV
"Very well," the lieutenant said. "Your Sergeant
Has covered for you nicely, but if I see
You here again I won't be stopped. Private,
Do I make myself quite clear?" I gulped
"Yes sir." "Get out of my sight," he yelled.
"You make me sick." "Yes sir, I said relieved.
Thank you sir." "What?" he puzzled after me as I ran.
The next day we drove, listening
For the next explosion.
I checked the windows and roofs.
A child darted out from a doorway
Causing my adrenalin to peak.
Further along a dog chased a cat, and
Toward the end a hawk flying overhead dived.
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