JEEP Anmole Prasad I Many wars are fought across the mediocre foxholes of the head Peacetime for me flickered in grainy black and white enlargements of the times Arriving with LIFE magazines guns we never knew napalm that never seared my back Still archived in the raw footage and newsprint of my greying library And amongst them, the marine in canvas and steel The rhombus of his jaw engaging gum Like a tank grinding a child over the rice fields Marine strait-jacketed in canvas And a steel helmet askew A toadstool yearning for the sun II Peacetime can make a cunt of you Make a big empty hole in your heart where the secret murderer hides Even now not even as in a dream I glance up from the garden and see it limned by the October sky Lurching over the rise from Pedong The canvas top canted by the weight of young men bristling on the tailboard like weaponry The sun flinches off a careless glint of grease and confident smiles On faces lost to black leather and chains The denim-caressed knife that claims the first blow in after the movie at Novelty cinema His catenary back is buckled under the press of people But he's not a bodybag yet returned to the tarmac from the belly of a B-52 Mobile as a wheelchair the catheter linking his carb to the stinking jerrycan in the front seat He's too old for fear now the green leached out of him since the sixties Mumbling a four-wheel incantation he descends the road to Kalimpong Unable even to hold his piss. About Anmole Prasad: Anmole Prasad is a practicing lawyer and writer, residing in Kalimpong, West Bengal, India. Closest to his heart is writing poetry. Prasad is the editor of FLATfile, a creative writing journal, and the literary pages of Himal Magazine (www.himal.org). ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/yqIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ******************* Did you get this mail as a forward? Subscribe by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/join. Members are encourage to post poetry, their own and others', respond critically to the poems circulated, and participate in discussions. Post via email at [email protected] OR online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/post. ====theZESTcommunity====== ZESTCurrent ZESTEconomics ZESTGlobal ZESTMedia ZESTPoets ZESTCaste ZESTAlternative TalkZEST Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
