by Timothy M. Connelly
Troops swoop into the village
in helicopters loaded with supplies.
Soldiers take up positions
around the village
as the medics dispense bandages and aspirin.
The people seem happy the troops are there.
They swarm the soldiers
for free tubes of Chapstick.
The soldiers have raided the village before.
Three people are detained,
one man is taken for questioning.
The troops believe
the enemy is present in the village.
“We have good intelligence
that something is going on here,”
says the Captain.
Timothy M. Connelly has been a soldier, a reporter. He now has discovered poetry as a way of expressing his feelings about war, poverty and the human condition.
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