Returning to the World___
I needed a healing after killing so many people
Although I prefer nowadays to look at it as I had saved my life
And the lives of others like me
Justification is needed when blowing someone's brains from their cranium
And ripping their heart from their rib cage using a 'FMJ'
As the act of War does not inspire great or memorable poetry
Even if it is quite inspiring in its own ritual way
Of mutual exclusion and human sacrifice
I guess the best peacetime comparison
One could draw, would be defenestration
In enlisted terms that means throwing someone out of a window
War steals your muse when you’re a poet in uniform
It takes everything you've ever learned about the human experience
And throws all that Easter bunny and St. Nick crap out the window
But first it bloodies and water boards them both into confessing
Your first formative years were all packed with lies
And now you must deal with it or die like a limp dick G.I. Joe
With your dog tags crammed between your upper lip and your nose
You can see now why.....
There are not that many ways for one to return from battle.....
And most of them involve being a sociopath or becoming a poet
But in order to become the latter you need to find your muse
Mine used to be a half bottle of high proof booze
Nowadays,
I prefer the unopened bottle that stares back at me
From the space I've provided for our eventual eternal internment
Note: FMJ is a full metal jacket- a bullet incased in a metal alloy like steel or copper
2007 © T Sheridan
Ted Sheridan
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-poet-or-a-sociopath/
