heart of darkness (again)

[mnaz]

they fought the war to end war
roman numeral etched in stone
there's a graveyard in hiroshima
gravestones flattened in a giant circle
weapons got bigger in the final war
that was the point, to end it all

they made grainy, stock film on tv
gunships, black clouds, dubbed-in boom
triumph of justice, impossible legend
no, they touched subhuman jungles
survival hinged on unhinged questions
young killers have no stomach for it
sold upriver by phantoms and dues
heart of darkness, art of disease

put a voice to the legend
met a man in mojave, desert bar
said he touched hell on the isle of saipan
the splattered temples and human smoke
he saw their eyes, the desperate demons
he spoke softly under the din, you lean in
must be a limit to souls ripped violently
they come back to watch, to seep in

[jim turner]

Been working on a similar theme for nearly a year. I don't think I need to finish it, now that we have yours. jim

[mnaz]

thanks jim. all i know of ww2 is what i read in highschool textbooks, but it was enough to horrify me... and then i was staring down the barrel of vietnam, yet another giant existential what-the-fuck? my father's tour took him to japan in 1950; he told me about hiroshima. and the guy I met in mojave was so quiet; he told me his unit was almost overrun, amidst the awful jukebox din, and that was grim enough, but when i googled the battle for saipan it was much more horrific, the recounting of it. suffice to say his words, and my father's words, haunted me.

[Arcadia]

gracias for the poems mnaz & welcome back! yeah, let the family-horror relatos be...! In my family my grandparents from father´s side were great at that, although my grandmother´s relatos about the conditions of the italian inmigrants in fazendas in the cafetal- jungle in Brazil absoluted palidecían my grandparent relatos about the Big War near the austrian border and his two or three post-war tour as a conscript soldier in Rodas and sourroundings...

[mnaz]

thanks Arcadia. seems we're all touched by that awful/"glorious" segment of human history. it's a highly personal write, hopefully with some universality to it.