Anything can set him off.
Been that way for 40 years
since he came back from Nam.
He got spooked at dawn today
by a spider web dripping from a tree
he walked into when his dog
took him for his morning walk.
After lunch he brushed his teeth
and cried about a doctor
who died the other day.
He reads the obits every day
for names of men he served with.
His therapist believes his stress
may be magnified by contact
with Monsanto's Agent Orange.
To win the war, America ladled it
in layers thick all over Vietnam.
He managed to avoid the Cong
but never knew about Monsanto
and the ladling of Agent Orange.
He may have stepped in it at times.
Back home, he's shaky and unsure
but determined now to find the gook
who dropped that spider web.
He'll take his pistol tomorrow morning.
He and the dog will watch the trees.
There's always more than one.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
A vivid portrayal of a part of the Vietnam war that many didn't realize. Agent Orange has lasting effects on people and should never have been used, yet the powers that be claimed they had to. Before spraying Agent Orange over in Nam, they sprayed two towns in Arizona with it to see what effects it would have on the people. No one ever told them what they did, it was all done secretly. Those two towns are Globe and Superior here in Arizona. Nothing is ever reported on the news so I continually wonder about what it did to innocent American people and their children. Your poem brought back the memories of this, I have a copy of the secret papers in my possession relating the whole story. Such corruption of the American way of life, let alone over in Nam. Thank you for sharing your story. RoseAnn