not in Nam

the slow arm moves through dirt

 

I bulldoze a deeper trench

it's

 

messy

 

not in Nam

 

the dog gnaws Buddy

I can't move

 

until silence

 

not in Nam

 

my ghost

breathes jungle

enemy

 

napalm

girls

 

booby trapped

 

not in Nam

 

tunnels

hold the heaving earth the B52

 

not in Nam

 

shuffled cards for months so it all turned out

 

different

 

failed the medical the arteries my right arm branched a false reading for blood pressure they didn't follow it up I swam in the sea before Christmas

 

and sailed away in the stretch limo of marriage

 

without

 

seat belts