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MEMORIAL DAY (U.S.)
Thick Green Blur of War
The time when Nixon flew to Vietnam
They rode in on sky chariots with plush red carpets
landing in a whirl of grit and dirty confusion
and out they stepped from bespoke birds
with uniforms starched as taut as sails
and spines as straight as the path to God
Bird colonels, light colonels,
generals with gleaming stars
landing their choppers on our sorry
patch of ground, gracing us
with their exalted presence and pedigree
We watched, idly scratching our jungle rot
like the orangutans that mocked us from the treetops.
We saluted if we had to but sometimes turned away
wary at the sudden pressure from all these higher-ups.
Huge rumor: To bestow legitimacy on the war effort
President Nixon himself was coming to our mountaintop!
Police calls, shaves, shower tripods
fresh uniforms, a barber flown in
and to smooth the ground of bumps —
garden rakes for fuck sake,
none of which mattered at all to grunts.
How about drinking water…
