by Alan Catlin
WARNING: This video contains disturbing scenes of war.
The American war in Vietnam ended
with the dissolution of the Saigon government
on April 30, 1975.
In Proctor’s theater lobby
after hearing war stories,
dramatic monologue presentations,
vet with gray/ brown hair tied back
in pony tail, unkempt beard,
black t-shirt that says:
Harley Rendezvous Florida,
“Man, brings it all back.
So good to hear it said like that.”
Same basic look, same aged
bro says, “Man, don’t I know it.”
“Realist thing I ever heard.
Forty years later, I can
still feel the heat.”
“Come to the meeting, Man.
Lots of guys you need to know.”
“No, Man, don’t need to know
nobody or know nothing. Know it
all already. Trying not to know, Man,
that’s what I’m all about Look at this,
Man, still got the blood on my hands.”
They both look down in silence.
Vietnam was yesterday.
Today too.
Alan Catlin has
published numerous chapbooks and full-length books of poetry
and prose, the latest of which, from Pygmy Forest Press, is Deep Water Horizon including several poems originally published in The New Verse News.
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