So This is How it Ends
Here again, flung far
Duffle and rifle
Ruck and MRE
Saving someone –
Unknown, but to those
Who define our purpose.
Ideals? Ideology?
Political necessity?
Hydrocarbon thirst.
Freedom is a prescription that
Some reject like
Transplants
No drug can overcome
Here again, déjàs vous
Fifteen years since –
It smells the same.
Invisible enemies bomb our convoys
Mortar our bases
Kill our comrades
While we defend their families
While we secure their cities
For their society reborn
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CW3 Kelly A. Vinal
at Mortaritaville
near Balad, Iraq
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Here again, flung far
From home, we hear life
Remains unperturbed back home –
Oblivious
Strip malls thrive
Wal Mart expands
Epidemic obesity –
The economy churns
For Wall Street
And oil commodities
All ...
For something unsolicited.
Flung far
Rome, Rome again –
So this is how it ends.
by Kelly Allen Vinal
... who is an Army Chief Warrant Officer on active duty,
currently serving in Iraq, is a veteran of operations Desert
Storm and Iraqi Freedom; and whose poetry has been
published in periodicals and books, including Vision: Behind
My Eyes (1983), Nefarious Pandemonium (1986), Still
Life (1989), Discipline of Steel (1992), Party of
One (2000), and Vapours of Promise (2004). CW3 Vinal
is also the author of The Extracted MBA (2000) and
Turbomanager (2004); and is a former adjunct professor of
management sciences at Campbell University. His work has appeared
previously in this magazine.
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