Blowing the ambush
veins on my banana bed
crunching as I roll.
Grunts's simple pleasure --
slowly getting out the salt
hello! sucking leech.
Voices on the trail --
long arm of the enemy
this time just gibbons.
Meatballs in a can
pass a cake roll in the air --
grunts exchanging food.
Lost on the trail
today's only casualty
squeeze mustard missing.
Fighting at the front --
hairy times in Vietnam
strip shows in the rear.
Enemy waiting --
a track jars a jungle tree
lookout! mogators.
Launched from a jungle
quaking bird pushed to the limits
of a pilot's nerves.
Swarm of deadly bugs
a jungles sudden peril
we drop from the sky.
multi-seated toilet greets
a mamasan's smile!
Mercy from above --
the never forgotten sound
choppers in the sky.
What the hell was that
another ghostly phantom?
even bats tease us.
Foul smelling morning
an isolated fire base
someone burning shit.
grunt's penetrating eyes
probing the bush.
Ambush patrol
neck hair refusing
to get down.
Wait a minute vines --
point man's whispered expletives
biting out the thorns.
Returning tourist
sitting on his helmet
flying into 'nam.
Ghosts of the jungle --
leaf whirling to the ground
shadows loading.
Bird on the ground
loading with the shadows
a soldier's memory.
Vietnam snapshot
bird quaking on the ground
loading passengers.
Boots clearing the trees
rising chopper thwacks the air
a grunt's high five.
Soap caked body --
hook on a base camp's shower
a slumped canvas bag.
Smiling through her wound
the beetle nut juice running
mammasan's chin
Lifting from the ground
quaking bird's effortless climb
boot strings in the wind.