A WELL TRAVELED HEART

Tag: Viet Nam

  • PEDICURE

    PEDICURE

    Morning in the nail shop,
    two Vietnamese women and I
    hear a man’s voice drawl

    “I want a pedicure, that’s all.”

    Men don’t enter here, this world
    of polish, lotion – free of fear.
    Perhaps we misheard – he repeats it slow

    “A pedicure, please, nothing more.”

    We avoid each other’s eyes
    as he climbs the chair
    to perch above the foot bath
    a green beret on his unkempt hair.

    Is it memory or mercy this veteran seeks or
    simply gentle hands on tired feet?

     

    Published on http://www.vietnamwarpoetry.com/cpcynthiamsheward.html

    Image – Old Shoes  © Zimogljad | Dreamstime.com\

  • WARRIOR

    WARRIOR

    Without leathers, he’s but a man
    Irish face, tan, thick waist.
    But garbed in medals, head-rag, boots,
    he’s Genghis, Grant, Hannibal –
    thunder rolling on a Harley.

    Still a warrior 40 years on
    jungles long gone – no Cong to fight,
    he defends in statehouse, hospital, VA
    his band – most dead by 64 –
    and others from more recent wars.

    Cigars like old rags stain his hands.
    He smells of man: smoke, sweat and musk
    sleeps poorly, dreams of violence each dusk.
    The price of war’s eternal vigilance
    perpetual keeping score.

    published on http://www.vietnamwarpoetry.com/cpcynthiamsheward.html

  • HARD GRACE

    HARD GRACE

    Hair like liquid onyx falls past her face
    while she works over the fingers of her customers.
    Her skill is hypnotic to watch as
    deftly she forms each perfect nail
    then paints it like fine china
    only swiftly. This is commerce, not art.
    Day in, day out, she breathes dusty air through a white mask,
    accompanied by the drone of her Dremel file
    and saves money to return home.
    Her sleep’s still broken by nightmares.
    Her entire family died in the war. Of this she never speaks.
    When she speaks of home, it is only of its beauty and of old friends.
    A dog-eared tome of Thich Nhat Hanh rests by her chair.
    She works hard: plans, saves, yearns.
    Her daughter, born American, has no desire to live in the “old country”.
    She has her own dreams: college, a young man, children – her dreams
    hold no room for quaint villages, palm trees and unexploded ordnance.
    Soon she’ll be pregnant.

    What profession will Iraqi women adopt when they arrive here?
    What tools will refugees from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon use
    To wrest grace from the jaws of “Shock and Awe”?

     

    Published in Friends Journal February 2011

    Photo Credit
    Contract Between Two Trees
    Tay Ninh Viet Nam © Truong Hoang Huy Ngan Ngan Truong
    Dreamstime.com