by Shay Wills

(“Lost Photos” mobile version)

I found your Vietnam photos
—–You said were lost.
———-Sun-pale aerial shots

Of Vietnam with jungles
—–Cancer gray,
———-Muddy roads queasy purple,

And sky as white bone.
—–No wonder we lost,
———-The land we pictured

Was wrong.
—–Our nation did not
———-Understand color.

A half huddle of manly boys
—–(boyish men?)
———-Back from prepping LZs

With their faces and the air
—–That haloed them
———-Reddish brown

By muck
—–Not of the country
———-But of the mission

The call of duty
—–Staining your young souls
———-Too deep to ever unmark.

A blue hulled freighter in a bay
—–Below hills lifting the sky
———-Away, extending

Angels farther from your tents.
—–Dear Johns
———-Became invitations to immolations.

That time your crew
—–Threw chickens
———-From your Huey

To see if they flew,
—–Rotor-wash thwapped them earthward
———-To a death you knew would be.

The flotilla of Hueys
—–Like giant beetles
———-Beat their way to their base of red clay

Riddled by invisible holes
—–Maybe cameras
———-Weren’t good enough to spot,

Or maybe
—–Cameras see only
———-What viewers want to see.

I threw the photos
—–All away
———-For my memory to recollect.

 

–

–

–

---

An army brat, Shay Wills graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in English and Creative Writing. He, with his spouse and son, live in Tucson, Arizona, near his two older children. Recently, he followed a different passion, earned his MS, and works as a mental health counselor. He has poetry appearing in The Abstract Elephant, Hive Journal, Wingless Dreamer, and The Closed Eye Open among others.

–

–

–