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FREEDOMWAYS                        THIRD QUARTER 1972

                       THE JOURNEY
                         SERIGO

What were you bound for, unknown man
wobbling along on bony legs beneath your load,
could you not feel blind eyes stare upon your back
or small the madness in the air around you?

Why did you try so hard to get where you were going,
racing the creeping night to your poor bowl of rice?
Did you not hear the silent laughing scream behind you
that would not wait, or listen to replies?

The load's not heavy any more for you now, is it?
And the journey's not as urgent now as then it seemed-
the night's caught up and long since overtaken you
and your poor bowl of rice
              has long ago grown cold...


                  APO 9655
                LARRY ROTTMAN

A young man once went off to war
in a far country
When he had time, he wrote home and
said, "Sure rains here a lot."

But his mother, reading between the lines,
Wrote "We're quite concerned. Tell us
what it's really like."

And the young man responded, "Wow, you ought
to see the funny monkeys!"

To which the mother replies, "Don't
hold back, how is it?"

218
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POETRY FROM VIETNAM

And the young man wrote, "The sunsets here
are spectacular."

In her next letter the mother
wrote, "Son we want you to tell us
everything."

So the next time he wrote,
"Today I killed a man.
Yesterday I helped dop napalm on women and
children. Tomorrow we are going to use
gas."

And the father wrote, "Please don't
write such depressing letters. You're upsetting
your mother."

So, after a while, the young man wrote, "Sure rains a lot here.."


        THE WALK
CHARLES M. PURCELL

Walking in Suburbia
Once only a name
Now my home.

Streets-quiet and wet
Green bags of garbage and leaves
Neatly placed by the road.

Abruptly another scenes pierces my mind
Other green bags are remembered
Neatly placed by the road.

Green bags made from ponchos
Bags with legs sticking out the bottoms
A nightmare awaiting the man from glad.


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