casualty of war uncounted

[saw]

Jeffery is not counted
among the Iraq War dead
but he did die

he saw things
camel spiders in his room
in his parent's house

he used a flashlight
to search for them
under his bed

Jeffery told mom and dad
he was ordered to kill
two Iraqi prisoners

he wore their dog tags around his neck
until christmas 2003 when he threw them
at his sister, called himself a murderer

Jeffery stayed in his room, watched lots of tv
drank lots of booze, feared the stigma that accompanies
mental health treatment

mom and dad had him involuntarily committed,
the VA Hospital released him 3 days later, said
they didn't know what to do with him

that night Jeffery asked his father if he could sit
in his lap ... they rocked for 45 minutes in silence,
Jeffery had gone to his last place of refuge

next morning his father raced to the basement
after finding Jeff's dog tags laid out on his bed,
Jeffery was dead

a garden hose double looped 'round his neck.
" Dear mom and dad, I cannot express my apologies in words for the pain
I have caused you, but I beg your forgiveness.

I want you to know that I loved you both
and still do, but the pain
of life was too much for me to deal with."




in honor of US Marine Corp Cpl. Jeffery Lucey

one of hundreds of suicides caused by the horrors of war...one of thousands of young men and women from poor towns where there is no work, that heard the red, white and blue drumming of patriotism.....the quoted part of the poem is verbatim from the note he left behind.....very sad indeed

written 8-24-07

[Atehequa]

Fine verse which did this fallen fighter justice.

Causality of the oil wars.

[mnaz]

the volunteer army.

[Tjflowers80]

So many soldiers die amongst the wars of the world but none recount those who have not fallen into death but fallen to the other symptoms that war brings to those who come home.