"Luxury..."

"Where ya from?" "Where ya been?" "Where ya going?" - home.

"Luxury..."

 

A foot of snow

on weeks of crusted-ice

that has

a frozen smooshed down path

to a plank-doored out-house.

 

A rubber-banded closure,

crack-opened,

moon-light - star-light lit,

single

- bring your own,

with a cracked-hinged seat.

 

The stench of humanity

rising

and settling in

as you partake

of life's leisurely pace.

 

Two drafty rooms -
one window
one door.

A one-person-wide kitchen
cupboard and deepsink
- with cold and colder.

The window - edged, bordered,
framed -
bright yellow and life-faded-flower curtain panels,
matching valance.

A two-burner hotplate, 
a 2 place dinette -
tube frames and taped-seats.
Hand-worn linoleum
- clean.

Living room - 'nuff said.

Powered by extension cord's grace

and necessity's need.

The roof didn't leak,

just the eyes.

 

...I didn't get much mail
while I was in the USMC,
though the Corps 'encouraged'
(forced) me to write weekly
- at least during boot camp.

Boot camp was tough -
just ask ANY Marine...
hell, we scrubbed floors with toothbrushes
and just OUR clothes with hand brushes.
and our selves in Showers and sinks.
Guarded flush toilets nightly.

Your own footlocker held your 'stuff'.
Hell, you HAD stuff to put in it.
They didn't force you to take seconds
(unless you were a tall-drip-of-water, like me)
- just to eat what you took.

We ran from place to place
or walked when you could.
We camped out overnight
"roughed-it" in the woods
trained in bleacher-seated clearings.

We learned songs -
I still know behind my eyes,
to take the 'edge' off
as we moved.

I learned the efficiency and efficacy of
- death,
fired high expert
and lead others...
became RESPONSIBLE
for them and me.

Eventually, I learned how to bear being guilty...
We even buried sand fleas - ya know?

After 11 years in - I escaped.

Some do that
- escape "Luxury...",
and some don't.

 

Chris

Reviews

[Robin]

I had a boss who was an Ex-marine , Vietnam , you probably know the story - liked to share some experiences - and would clam up if pressed for others ...

He was a tough Boss with simple rules - no excuses , no lies , No B.S. . in the end it was all about doing your job when it had to be done ...

[Ruth]

For someone who has never seen this way of life up personal, it is humbling to absorb it through your words...the last stanza here sings to me...small mercies are in the word "escaped" and yet those mercies hold so many memories...to live with...such poignant articulation xx

[Emily B]

how did I miss this?

[.n.]

This is like two poems for me, though at the end I sense the connection. What is luxury anyway, certainly not what we've made it out to be in our minds. Modern luxury is more binding than freeing. Your second half here is moving, my father is a veteran, those years left an indelible mark on him.

[Penlady]

....long tall drink of water pouring out. You've outdone yourself with the visioning in this one, I didn't think that possible.

[masqued_muse]

And still we feel responsible for having endured the luxury....an opulence not all can partake of....on any battlefield. Brilliant; and of course, humbling...
masqued^^

[Kenneth The Poet]

Wow, epic work.

[emmajoy]

Seems to understand one has to experience this kind of 'luxury' but your description, bitter-something that it is, explains the place, the space and the atmosphere surrounding that period of life .. the stark discipline, the cruel acceptance of duty ..
To serve is to obey, to obey is to regret nothing, somehow .. except escape into a goodness knows what civilian life.

[J. J. Nightingale]

MY HUSBAND SERVED, MY FATHER SERVED, AND NOW MY SON-IN-LAW SERVES .. AND STILL AS CLOSE AS I AM, AND WAS TO THEM, I TRULY NO NOTHING OF THEIR EXPERIENCE .. .. GLAD YOU HAD THE "LUXURY" OF ESCAPE .. JAZZ

[Teri B]

The first part of your description here sounds a little like my paternal grandparents' house in rural St. Ann, Jamaica.

I'd hate to see what "Hardship" was, if this was "Luxury"...

[sharonlee]

Haunting images here my friend.... takes life to a whole other level of existence.....

Peace & Love
Shar