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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 -- 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. 219