Vietnam Powwow: The Vietnam War as Remembered by Native American Veterans | ||
A Necklace of Ears
It all came back to me
It all came back to me in one brief moment of time
The shame of my life
Holy shit, in a few years I'll be pushing fifty
And I'm actually living in The World
The land of the free and the home of the brave
It all came back to me in one brief moment of time
The shame of my life
What's the matter with you?
Nothing. Nothing
Holy shit, in a few years I'll be pushing fifty
And I'm actually living in The World
The land of the free and the home of the brave
What's the matter with you?
I stared at the menu printed on a sign fixed to the wall
I'll tell you what's the matter with me. I just stepped through a door that has been closed
tight for twenty five years. That's what's the matter with me. What's the matter
with you?
I'll tell you what's the matter with me. I just stepped through a door that has been closed
tight for twenty five years. That's what's the matter with me. What's the matter
with you?
Smell the air, sweetheart
Do you have any idea of what a banyan swamp smells like
How it permeates the very fibers of your soul
I loved it. I was where I was destined to be
There, filled with adrenaline, out of my freaking fucking mind
I cut the throat of a sixteen year old boy
I painted his face green and I cut off his ears
I wore his ears in a necklace around my throat
That's what's the matter with me.
Do you have any idea of what a banyan swamp smells like
How it permeates the very fibers of your soul
I loved it. I was where I was destined to be
There, filled with adrenaline, out of my freaking fucking mind
I cut the throat of a sixteen year old boy
I painted his face green and I cut off his ears
I wore his ears in a necklace around my throat
That's what's the matter with me.
My girl, the kid, my sweet treasure and morning sunlight
Plays on her junior high school soccer team
Tonight we took her and her compatriots as a victory treat
To your fast food hot pizza palace
For pepperoni and mushrooms, no anchovies please because they're yuckie, Italian pie
Triumphant celebration over their wily arch enemy
Our conquering junior amazons won over Friends Academy 4 to 2
Smiles all around, slaps on the back, tender hugs, grateful tears
But for me I walked into a brick wall
I saw, standing behind the counter taking my order with a feverish intensity, an Asian
child, a boy, appearing to be in the range of sixteen years
My breath stood still in my lungs
Oh God, do the dead come back to life to haunt us?
Plays on her junior high school soccer team
Tonight we took her and her compatriots as a victory treat
To your fast food hot pizza palace
For pepperoni and mushrooms, no anchovies please because they're yuckie, Italian pie
Triumphant celebration over their wily arch enemy
Our conquering junior amazons won over Friends Academy 4 to 2
Smiles all around, slaps on the back, tender hugs, grateful tears
But for me I walked into a brick wall
I saw, standing behind the counter taking my order with a feverish intensity, an Asian
child, a boy, appearing to be in the range of sixteen years
My breath stood still in my lungs
Oh God, do the dead come back to life to haunt us?
What's the matter with you? Something wrong?
No
You look like you've seen a ghost
I have
She grabbed a handful of white napkins
This isn't like you at all
SanViet29
Honey, you don't know me at all
A chilling pause, not unlike that moment in the morning after a night of making love
when a man and a woman, over the breakfast table, look at each other and wonder
what the hell they are doing there together.
Are you going to drink tonight?
I might
I wish you wouldn't
I can handle it
That's not the point
The order was ready for a red head in her thirties who sat with her sullen child in one of
the booths
Why do you do this?
You wouldn't understand
Maybe I might
Maybe you might fly across the moon
A singular sadness settled in her eyes
Tell Jennifer you are proud of the way she played this afternoon
I have
And then, because she couldn't help herself, she said
Please, darling, try not to drink tonight.
Have you no idea of what has lived for a very long time in the
dark corner of my
midnight
Have you no idea of what a banyan swamp smells like
Have you no idea of what it is to see some gook kid, standing behind a counter marking
down pepperoni and mushrooms, no anchovies, on the order for a pizza to be
eaten by my own beloved child
Have you no idea of what it feels like to wear a necklace of human ears
Oh, merciful God, help me.
midnight
Have you no idea of what a banyan swamp smells like
Have you no idea of what it is to see some gook kid, standing behind a counter marking
down pepperoni and mushrooms, no anchovies, on the order for a pizza to be
eaten by my own beloved child
Have you no idea of what it feels like to wear a necklace of human ears
Oh, merciful God, help me.
Vietnam Powwow: The Vietnam War as Remembered by Native American Veterans | ||