Christmas Day 2006

I'm opening up, sorry.

We found him in a ditch by the road

His body mutilated 

His ears cut off

His tongue ripped out 

His eyes gouged out 

Two 45 rounds through his head

I stared for a moment

then looked away

I was numb to it 

If 

I didn't look to long 

but I knew

The taste of violence in my throat

The weight and slime on my hands

When I picked him up 

like a sack of garbage

In the stench of the late morning heat

heavy like rancid sweets

cleansing me of humanity 

 making space for the horrific indifference 

that had become my life 

We threw him in the truck

We dropped him at the morgue 

In front of the mosque 

The old cleric smiled

but 

he hated us

We knew that

The next IED

The next mortar round 

The next sniper's bullet

Could be mine

Back home in a box

In my dress blues 

Amounting to nothing 

over a war for nothing 

But I survived

 I have to live with that 

Reviews

[Honey-Bee]

Wow! You really are opening up and releasing some of the horror you saw in war through your poems and writings... I was numb to it if I didn't look to long...but I knew the taste of violence in my throat...We almost have to numb ourselves in certain circumstances, but in reality we will carry the grief for a long time. Sometimes TIME is the only healer.

[Pryde Foltz]

cleansing me of humanity
making space for the horrific indifference
that had become my life

That is the truth of it, Baby. War requires the switching off of empathy to maintain sanity, but still even the darkest times the truth shines through. A very powerful write.

Bit of a typo with 'to' long.

[Relic]

You have a right to open up and this is the place to do it. War has always been horrendous but the middle east seems to thrive on it. What's going on over there now scares me. I feel like its only a matter of time now before our city streets start seeing the explosions. They're not human.

I also don't trust our government and probably never will. I echo Marie's thoughts.

[Marie]

The point is you survived. You didn't come home in a box. The ones who sent you to that war have something to be ashamedof not you.

[Annabelle Lee]

cleansing me of humanity
making space for the horrific indifference
that had become my life

that's what the military trains you to be. I know it doesn't matte how many people tell you or how many times you hear it, but who you became over there is not your fault.

[MsJewel]

Your words are haunting BR..I can't even begin to imagine the horror in living through this and with this...
My heart goes out to you.

Julie

[Frieda P]

I have chills reading this Baby...really no words would suffice to articulate how affecting this read is....

[A. Amos]

The old cleric smiled

but
he hated us

This was powerful and honestly written, above lines were true killer...the enemy you had faced are unhuman people. Other day a friend showed me a clip on you tube talibans playing foot ball with human heads...I was like WTF...proud of our men and women in uniform. This was your finest piece for me! Hit right where a poetry like this should. Great job!

[Coyote Poetry]

The poem story true and hard. I stood in Bosnian and I watched the people. One day killing over religion and the next day living together. Hard for me to understand. I spend three years in the Middle east. I kept my safe distance from the Iraq people. Soldiers had to watch their every step. I'm glad you are alive and writing. Thank you for sharing the story in the outstanding poetry.
Coyote

[Ally Monique]

Emotional read. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like to be a soldier at war. I personally know some people that have gone off to war, and they always talk about how their humanity slowly gets ripped away from them. As months go by, emotions begin to fill with novocain. It's very admirable that you are able to open up about stuff like this, thank you for sharing and serving as a soldier.