Portrait From The Infantry

A poem by Alan Dugan

He smelled bad and was red-eyed with the miseries

of being scared while sleepless when he said

this: “I want a private woman, peace and quiet,

and some green stuff in my pocket. Fuck

the rest.” Pity the underwear and socks,

long burnt, of an accomplished murderer,

oh God, of germans and replacements, who

refused three stripes to keep his B.A.R.,

who fought, fought not to fight some days

like any good small businessman of war,

and dug more holes than an outside dog

to modify some Freudian’s thesis: “No

man can stand three hundred days

of fear of mutilation and death.” What he

theorized was a joke: “To keep a tight

asshole, dry socks and a you-deep hole

with you at all times.” Afterwards,

met in a sports shirt with a round wife, he was

the clean slave of a daughter, a power brake

and beer. To me, he seemed diminished

in his dream, or else enlarged, who knows?,

by its accomplishment: personal life

wrung from mass issues in a bloody time

and lived out hiddenly. Aside from sound

baseball talk, his only interesting remark

was, in pointing to his wife’s belly, “If

he comes out left foot first” (the way

you Forward March!), “I am going to stuff

him back up.” “Isn’t he awful?” she said.

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• Songs of Joy by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Seeking Beauty by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Sadness and Joy by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Rich or Poor by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Rich Days by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• No Master by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Money by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Leisure by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• William Henry Davies – William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• In the Country by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• In May by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Days Too Short by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• Charms by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
• April’s Charms by William Henry Davies by William Henry Davies
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