deepundergroundpoetry.com

Image for the poem soldier

soldier's whore (whore's soldier)


Never fall in love.
that’s the first rule of a roughshod soldier; his bride is
war, & gut–ripped enemy corpses are the seeds he plants.

we go where the bosses send us, to vanquish insurgents &
secure villages for the fortune of the commanders. after
the murdering, our reward is a hot meal, raw cachaca, &
a fine whore to fuck.

in a noisy saloon, I saw Sierra through the smoke. she
struggled in the arms of a drunken pig as he chewed her
neck & groped her tits. I pushed him away & made her
dance with me.

the gypsy band played their accordions & fiddles; we sang
old songs & danced the lurid steps of a tango. she held me
closely, in thanks, I suppose, for rescuing her. she was soft &
seductive in my embrace. in her hair, the scent of a rare
flower that I had no name for.

later, in her room, we made haste to remove our uniforms:
fatigues of a soldier & peasant dress of a whore (she did not
remove the chain from which hung a medal of Magdalene,
her patron saint.)

as the moon sailed the ocean of the sky, we passed the night
touching each other, kissing, finding the most exquisite
cadences of sex…

just after dawn, the bugle would call us to reveille. I dressed
in somber silence, imagining that the illusion of love had
dissipated with the sun.

I turned to Sierra to say goodbye. tears dropped, unashamed,
from her pretty eyes. ‘come back to me,’ she said. I’d never
heard those words from a woman before, & a pain pierced me
as no bullet ever could.

we marched off to the killing fields, the same as any other
battle. but this time, I bore a heavy & amorous weight:
I carried her heart with me…


(Art: Evgen Bavcar)

                                       
Written by JohnFeddeler
Published
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 15 reading list entries 5
comments 14 reads 1669
Commenting Preference: 
The author encourages honest critique.

Latest Forum Discussions
SPEAKEASY
Today 2:34pm by Ahavati
SPEAKEASY
Today 2:11pm by Rew
POETRY
Today 2:05pm by Grace
SPEAKEASY
Today 1:14pm by nightbirdblue