Sunday on a Bench
She is sitting next to
me reading 21 Ways to
Happiness and Peace / says
her husband’s been sick a
long time / recon marine /
Vietnam /Agent Orange / three
heart attacks / lupus / cancer /
always upbeat / optimistic /
unlike pop she says / furious at
being sick / having her care for
him / feeding tubes / incontinence /
her nights are bad / days are better
/ suicide’s a tempting thing / but
she’ll be strong / believes in Jesus /
sure that he will get her through /
my wife rings up / I have to go /
to pick up food / sorry I can’t
stay some more / nice meeting
you / she says to me / I hope you
have a blessed day / I wish her well /
and say the same / drive off to do
the crying.
by Contributing Poet Martin H. Levinson Copyright © 2020
VWP 2020 First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com
~
Beating Back a Determined Assault on Fire Support Base Illingworth,
an Undermanned & Inadequately Fortified Fire Base
Composed of a Lash-up of Disparate Units
that had Never Before Worked Together,
War Zone C, Early Morning Hours, April Fool's Day 1970
Two hundred twenty grunts
three broken tanks
some concertina wire,
bait inside a berm in Vietnam
awaiting an NVA attack
They do
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Hannah loses both legs
Sergeant Lou Vaca gets it in the guts
Forty tons of stored ammo explode
weapons jam
eardrums burst
pureed body parts
Joe Hogg in his airborne Cobra
thinks a nuclear weapon has gone off
what else could it be?
The North Vietnamese retreat
Lucky Charley Company
outnumbered two to one about to be overrun
will live to fight another day
Not so PFC Roger McInerney
blown to bits
by rocket fire
Not so Corporal Michael Patterson
eighteen days in combat
gone
Not so Sergeant Sidney Plattenburger
dead
from multiple fragmentation wounds
Pawns sacrificed in a bloody battle
you probably never heard of
by Contributing Poet Martin H. Levinson Copyright © 2016
VWP 2016 First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com
She is sitting next to
me reading 21 Ways to
Happiness and Peace / says
her husband’s been sick a
long time / recon marine /
Vietnam /Agent Orange / three
heart attacks / lupus / cancer /
always upbeat / optimistic /
unlike pop she says / furious at
being sick / having her care for
him / feeding tubes / incontinence /
her nights are bad / days are better
/ suicide’s a tempting thing / but
she’ll be strong / believes in Jesus /
sure that he will get her through /
my wife rings up / I have to go /
to pick up food / sorry I can’t
stay some more / nice meeting
you / she says to me / I hope you
have a blessed day / I wish her well /
and say the same / drive off to do
the crying.
by Contributing Poet Martin H. Levinson Copyright © 2020
VWP 2020 First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com
~
Beating Back a Determined Assault on Fire Support Base Illingworth,
an Undermanned & Inadequately Fortified Fire Base
Composed of a Lash-up of Disparate Units
that had Never Before Worked Together,
War Zone C, Early Morning Hours, April Fool's Day 1970
Two hundred twenty grunts
three broken tanks
some concertina wire,
bait inside a berm in Vietnam
awaiting an NVA attack
They do
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Hannah loses both legs
Sergeant Lou Vaca gets it in the guts
Forty tons of stored ammo explode
weapons jam
eardrums burst
pureed body parts
Joe Hogg in his airborne Cobra
thinks a nuclear weapon has gone off
what else could it be?
The North Vietnamese retreat
Lucky Charley Company
outnumbered two to one about to be overrun
will live to fight another day
Not so PFC Roger McInerney
blown to bits
by rocket fire
Not so Corporal Michael Patterson
eighteen days in combat
gone
Not so Sergeant Sidney Plattenburger
dead
from multiple fragmentation wounds
Pawns sacrificed in a bloody battle
you probably never heard of
by Contributing Poet Martin H. Levinson Copyright © 2016
VWP 2016 First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com
Bio: Martin H. Levinson is a member of the Authors Guild, National Book Critics Circle
and the book review editor for ETC: A Review of General Semantics.
He has published nine books and numerous articles and poems in various publications.
He holds a PhD from NYU and lives in Forest Hills and Riverhead New York.
He was motivated to write this poem after reading Phil Keith’s book, Fire Base Illingworth.
and the book review editor for ETC: A Review of General Semantics.
He has published nine books and numerous articles and poems in various publications.
He holds a PhD from NYU and lives in Forest Hills and Riverhead New York.
He was motivated to write this poem after reading Phil Keith’s book, Fire Base Illingworth.
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