I wrote this in 1996 at the beginning of a revision process that started in Mary's wonderful class. This conversation with Bruce inspired me to go deeper. And for that I thank him and my other guides along the way: friends and fellow writers. And Ted, who is the best guide.
In a room lit up with a Christmas tree
and a brand new Barbie Movie Theater,
Bruce took me to Vietnam.
To firebase Snuffy and the triple canopy jungle,
To Cambodia and back.
He was the skinny boy, 115 pounds after malaria,
who celebrated his twenty-first birthday in country.
He showed me his scar,
Claymore shrapnel still inside his shoulder,
And gently named the bronzed boys
mugging for the camera on the day they died
The children ran around the room,
pulling us together, binding up the wounds that never heal:
“Every morning when I look in the mirror,” he said,
“I wonder why I lived and they died.”
Susan Moger
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"Front Toward Enemy"
ReplyDeleteI always found that to be a weird phrase, especially considering the amount of shrapnel that wound up in our own soldiers and marines.
Thanks for the comment. Others may not know you mean the Claymore instructions. Luckily I did!
ReplyDeleteAmazing tenacity - you share with the soldiers who made it home and go on day after day after day.
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