Reflections of Viet Nam » Dayl Wise http://www.reflectionsofvietnam.com Writers and Poets Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:41:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Ode to new guy http://www.reflectionsofvietnam.com/poetry/ode-to-new-guy http://www.reflectionsofvietnam.com/poetry/ode-to-new-guy#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:31:52 +0000 Dayl Wise http://www.reflectionsofvietnam.com/?p=162 Thin like me,
red hair, freckled,
gap between front teeth,
a Midwesterner,
forgot where.

A replacement,
you were a F.N.G.
Made us laugh,
a clown, sad
behind your mask.
Never got to know you.

Flaked out
even on easy missions.
I treated you
as a non-person,
a pariah to be shunned.

You talked too loud,
made too much noise.
Couldn’t respond
to my basic
combat commands,
fired too much ammo.

We carried you
on a poncho
for 2,000 meters,
crossing a stream,
up a hill.
Dead weight.

F.N.G.: fucking new guy

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