A Soldier's Story, Saigon 1973 Poem by Frank James Ryan Jr...fjr

The Subluxation-
We engaged the Crooked Path
With trees dropping small grey pineapples

I wanted to fight, not to run...

The Suffocation-
We choked on fresh burnt flesh
And tasted smoldering black plastic bags

I wanted to fire my gun....

The Indignation-
We broke down at the finish line
And wept at the starting gate we never saw

I wanted to say we had won...


The Adulteration-
We counted fifty-eight thousand
Soldiers killed in Vietnam

I wanted to shout from a mountain peak...


The Evisceration-
This wasn't a Conflict, This was a War!
Such callous claim is a slap to each face
That lie beneath grey-stone and sod-

I wanted to kiss every stone.


FjR-MMXVII