Fighting Goliath

                                                                                                    A Set of Earphones                                                                  Walks with a guitar strapped to his back Singing out to the morning streets Maybe inspired to write a song that Others would devour to exhale on the world around them It’s like that one book at the beach that calls your name To be read Or that painting that forces you to pick up A paint brush Will your cr...

    Far from Fallujah   Smoke break in the psyche ward Smoke disappears Behind bars Puddles collecting Pajamas Defining institutions Closing a mind Relaxing With a load off Three meals a day Sleeping Until they call your name   Slippers sliding Like tires on black ice Suicide attempts are normal Like alcoholism   And skin to bone Scars inside Try to smile   Add another blanket   Celebrating discharges The last of This military life Seen as failure   They get theirs I get meds   At ease mind With my own stripe Far from Falujah And faulty flack vest A terrorized body Covering faces That haunt Me Now

  7 Feb 2004   Captain,             I was disappointed that you and Gloria weren’t at my graduation. I guess because it would remind me of who I used to be. I’ve changed since I’ve been in the Army, and I am not quite sure that I like the change.             Before graduation the entire unit marched to the meeting hall. I saw parents and love once pointing out their soldier in formation. I was looking around to find you and Gloria. I didn’t see you, but I did see my parents.             During graduation the soldiers all set in the respected platoons. Awards were handed out. I received none.             After graduation I hung out with my parents. They were proud, but for some reason I didn’t want to stick around. I got the impression that no one th...

  The Bus Ride to School             A long time ago in the early nineties when MTV still played videos, and there were infinite possibilities for our future, I lived in South Roanoke, Virginia.   At that time one of my goals in life was to sit in the back of the school bus so when the bus hit a big bump I would spring into the air from your seat. The amusement park-like ride was free, and I was one of the older kids at Crystal Spring Elementary school.    The funny thing is now, I don’t remember much about school.   Of course, I remember my teacher’s name, Mrs. Bailey, but I don’t remember too much after that.             Our bus driver was named Scotty. We called him Scotty because that was the name printed on the name plate just above the steering wheel.   No one on the bus knew why a man would choose the profession of school bus driver, but ...

    A Letter from Basic Training     11/2/03 Mom and Dad,   You have probably heard from Philip by now about my BRM (Basic Rifle Maintenance) qualification, if not, now you know. I am a qualified mark smith, and I passed to white phase which is the next stage of training. We just had the infiltration course. This course requires a lot of low crawling which feels like barbed wire to the scrapes on my arms. One way to crawl is the low crawl. This is when one side of your helmet and face is in the dirt, and you throw your hands out while you lie on your stomach, and use your firing leg or your right knee to push you forward. There is a problem that often occurs. While low crawling the soldiers tends to veer off to the left this makes his journey seem longer. To straighten out, the soldier has to tug on his left cargo pocket with his left hand, and slide his head up so he can see where he should be. I have to do this a lot. There are two infiltrati...