Losing It
by Mark E. Harden


hard to forget Mogadishu…

drinkin’ helps…

to lose

the sand and the stench,
flies,
Four Square Circle…
RPG’s…

don’t need mortars either,
especially at night…
that goes for tracers, too…

hell,
sometimes I
just
drink away Sword Base altogether-

Shupe’s another matter-

Pennsylvanian
Master Sergeant,
his hollow miner’s eyes
staring out from beneath his helmet

as he limps toward me
holding up his hands
like an umpire,
fists closed in a full count…

“ten, so far..” he gravels,
the black words collapsing
like an abandoned shaft,

“maybe more…”







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