turn on the TV
nightly
news
Vietnam, 1972
Vietnam, 1972
South
Vietnamese airplane swoops low
dropping
canisters of death
tails
of yellow and purple smoke bombs
curl
around the village where
a
fierce battle had been raging for days between
North
and South Vietnamese soldiers
a
nine-year-old girl looks up caught
in
a ball of fire, canisters descending
from
the sky
like
pigeon dropping at a ballpark
the
young girl looks up
caught
in a ball of fire
her
clothes evaporate
trees
lit up like
a
string of Christmas lights
the
young child flees naked
down the roadway
down the roadway
American
troops behind her
her clothes burned from her body
her clothes burned from her body
from
blistering inferno heat
yelling,
“Too hot Too hot”
as
she runs down the road
away from her burned out village
away from her burned out village
tears
running down innocent face
blobs of sticky napalm melted through
her clothes and layers of skin
like intense lava from a volcano
blobs of sticky napalm melted through
her clothes and layers of skin
like intense lava from a volcano
30%
of her body scorched raw
as
TV pundits played their spin
This
war that we could never win
Those
eyes those innocent eyes
Forever
burned inside my head
- by A D Winans
- by A D Winans
 |
| Collage by Ginger Eades |
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