What you did before?
Can't do it anymore.
Shoulda done it when ya could've, say all the dark mothers,
whispering from the walls.
Lookitcha.
Fat as a battle ship, slow as one, too.
Girrrrl.
Unh unh unh.
All that time, the Zeros were flying,
there you were,
lazy as an umbrella in last night's drink.
Now you're a mess, damn.
On fire and sinking,
feel like shit all the time, and might lose that breast.
Steam for the mouth of the harbor,
and tell that stupid band to shut up.
Who the fuck are those guys in the planes, where'd they come from?
So many questions, you're so inquisitive! Let me try to answer.
No, this isn't a drill.
Yes, those are real bullets.
No, you never did anything to them; they don't even know you.
Yes, they're trying to kill you.
What's that last question you asked, dear?
On purpose? Bless your heart. They came out of the Sunday sky, that's all.
_______
I hope this is all you putting yourself in someone else's place...
ReplyDeleteIt's powerful. The images come flying at the reader, and pain pierces the narrator's puzzlement...
I can see the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteSometimes our lives do turn into a battle zone through no fault of our own. The fatalism of this piece seems very real and appropriate to me.
ReplyDeleteYes, fatalism....you have nailed it. I just read a blog title asking "Has the world gone batshit crazy?" and I would have to reply, in a word, yes. I, too, hope this is story, not autobio. You write life real, that's why I love your work so much.
ReplyDelete'lazy as an umbrella in last night's drink..' You make the bleak coruscate with vicious skill here--and highlight the random, even arbitrary, nature of our good/ill fortunes--and of evil. The last line completely rules. Bitter as a chewed root and twice as potent.
ReplyDeleteBleak, you can't help but feel for the stunned protagonist.
ReplyDelete"lazy as an umbrella in last night's drink." Lord, that's brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAgain: Everything is going to be just fine.
Really excellent take on Pearl Harbor!
ReplyDeleteThought of you-
"If there is a heaven, it's certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them." Pam Brown
brilliant ~
ReplyDeleteTo me, this poem as an analogy between what is happening to a woman's health and Pearl Harbor. You nailed it.
ReplyDeletePat
Critter Alley