To Listen to Music While Reading this Poem, just Click Here!
Click Here To add this poem to your "Voting Possibilities" list!
Olfactory and Memory I got that smell, that strong nauseating smell, Gasoline slopped on my pants somehow, and that smell brought the memories back more vividly than a forty-foot tall hi-definition, wraparound TV with surround sound- I am alone in the theatre Gasoline and Vietnam All Nam’s other smells rush my nostrils as if something was waving each scent individually, inches under my nose. Fresh smells of Budweiser, cigarettes, laughter, fear, horror and sulfur, eventually, I learned to enjoy the panicky sulfuric smell of gunpowder But never Gasoline reminds me too much of diesel fuel, which smells just like napalm. Now I can smell burning flesh and I should be puking The hypnotic aroma of very strong Cambodian marijuana wafts into my mind and near-pure golden triangle heroin is cooking, seeping into my soul, Two or five dollar shots daily. I smell absolute reality at the smack shack, that singed burnt chemical odor, promising to ease many fragged memories, and I should be sweating Habits give you something to think about, but they will not help the guilty, there is no guilt training in Nam, just that Gasoline smell, and death. Now I smell death. I washed some guy’s guts and brains off and out of his Jeep last night. I still smell them---(and defeat) I roll up my sleeve and hand the grandmotherly woman a five dollar bill. Fucking Gasoline! I’m going home to change my pants… |
This Poem was Critiqued By: Claire H. Currier On Date: 2006-12-05 03:33:34
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.45455
Mark.....never been to Vietnam and personally never experienced such horrors of war.....my heart goes out to you along with my thanks and my prayers. My hubby served during this time as well and we loss many friends in the war........and the horror stories were shared by those that returned.......some without their body in one piece and their mind wishing they were some place else. The smell of marijuana I do know well for it was at that time my hubby , for whatever reason he had, began toking.........He never stopped......I do thank the good Lord he did not take up any other drugs while serving his country so far from home and the nightmares continue to this day. Your words bring forth such images and smells poet.........what can one say other then thank you for sharing this portion of your life.......perhaps this will help some to understand that war is not a good thing and even when it is over goes on. God Bless, Claire