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SHAPE-SHIFTERS IN DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE: This poem was written in Kadena, Okinawa, in response to casualty announcements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and after walking around with an Army officer stationed in Korea who told me of young enlisted men seeking escape (or at least emotional oblivion) in the "juicy bars" outside Gate 2. I'm reposting it because it has relevance again.
bad news hits like ice; later
the memories scour like glaciers, unstoppable
the shape is generic, like any other bullet --
purveyor of indiscriminate cruelty;
a random scream, the baying of hounds
honor and noble purpose
sizzle into steam on a hot pavement
my feet burn and so I run
from those sunlit mornings bright
and try to stay inside
the haze of ambiguity
birds roost in rusty bridges; afraid to dream
who can be trusted when we are like this?
anticipating a freshly trimmed golf course
facsimiles of civilization
instead of these stumbling blocks
memories or ice
--Susan Smith Nash
October 4, 2004 (Kadena, Okinawa)