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Shakespeare's Monkeys

Infinite Monkeys. Infinite Typewriters.

May 17, 2025  

More in Poetry

gun squad

(near the Laotian border, about 500 meters south of the DMZ, August, 1968. yours truly second from the left.)


gun squad

we were death
wandering the hills.

pieces of puzzles
out of time and place.

we were worlds lost
beyond
sound and sense,

stumblings on ridge lines
looking for something
to kill.


we were empty-eyed
birds of prey,

locked to earth
under the weight of packs

and guns
and ammunition,

trying to find wings
that would fly us home.

White_Feather - on June 9 2007

I struggle to think of something useful to offer, but I'm just wowed at how profound and powerful this piece is . . . made all the more so by the inclusion of the photograph.  Thank you for sharing this. 


Tracey - on June 9 2007
Your Viet Nam poems are extraordinary, Norm. In sparse, compact language you convey complexity (pain, fear, longing, courage). Your portrayal of soldiers puts us right in the scenes, and perhaps because we're at war now I find it appropriately haunting.
Norm - on Jul. 9 2007
Thank you both for your more than kind words.
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