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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Poems in English 

• A Zong Of Harvest Hwome by William Barnes by William Barnes
• A Wife A-Praïs’d by William Barnes by William Barnes
• A-Haulen O’ The Corn by William Barnes by William Barnes
• A Good Father by William Barnes by William Barnes
• A Bit O’ Fun by William Barnes by William Barnes
• Invictus by William Ernest Henley by William Ernest Henley
• Barmaid by William Ernest Henley by William Ernest Henley
• Ballade of Dead Actors by William Ernest Henley by William Ernest Henley
• Youth And Beauty by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Heel & Toe To The End by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• from Book I, Paterson by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Flowers By The Sea by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Dedication For A Plot Of Ground by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Danse Russe by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Complete Destruction by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Complaint by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Children’s Games by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Blizzard by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Berket And The Stars by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams
• Aux Imagistes by William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams

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