I offer this poem in draft form for any comments: I need criticism to move
on ...
*FELIX*
Each day
when I open the cereal box
I smile and remember Felix –
happy young Aussie who led
our charge into the Vietnam war
only to return, poisoned, dismissed,
a middle aged man overnight.
Felix found words to be
some kind of solace, letting
his wit out to play with his Kelpie
as he strummed his beat-up guitar.
He printed his poems and songs
on scraps of paper
and covered each manuscript
with cereal box collages:
King Willie Weetie meets Snap*Crackle*Pop!
When they cut off the front half
of his left foot, he said
*‘I’m half the iamb I used to be’*.
On the Repatriation Hospital’s verandah
you could hear his rough hewn baritone
singing above the silence of
his fellow Vietnam veterans, a life time
from their youth, a stagnant squad
puffing on their roll-your-owns.
*- Andrew Burke*
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
'Undercover of Lightness'
http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
'Shikibu Shuffle'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
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