After Watching Born on the 4th of July

In Vietnam there is no meaning
to anything except
living or dying,
and even in that,
meaning is hard to find.

Sometimes in rage
It is good to kill the enemy,
especially when it’s
kill or be killed,
especially when the enemy
is an evil, deeply seeded
in the jungle,
in the heart of darkness,
when all you can hear,
all you can feel,
all you can know,
is the pounding
of your heart
which throws you back
to the pounding of the drums
in the jungle
in the Tarzan movies you watched
as a child.

But you made it
home,
shattered.
They spit in your face,
Scream
baby killer!
Then throw you
a parade,
and look away
when you flinch
to the sounds
of firecrackers
Exploding
on the Fourth of July
for you,
Johnny come marching home,
you
Yankee Doodle Dandy

Ray Lopez