I’ve been drafted again quite inevitable
of course, I knew it would happen and
eventually these endless wars had to lead
to this predestined conclusion where
the only question is whether I’ll be able
to keep track of my new comic book graphic
novel which enumerates a complete history
of the old new leftist SDS (Students for a
Democratic Society) and naturally my new
notebook which has hardly an entry
both of which I pitch up into my new rack
rake we used to call it, that is my bunk
where I must return after my last night
on the town where I will meet another veteran
just back from the current quagmires and
I tell him “Gee, whiz I’ve felt so bad for you guys
you know, the generals may have gone along
with all abuse and corruption but you guys
get all the shit and they just keep sending you
back time after time it’s a wonder any of you
could stand it all” and I stand there thinking
‘why, why do I have to go back at my age?’

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.