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A.D. WINANS
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE 1954 At Lackland Air Force Base In San Antonio, Texas The D.I. told us that the Korean War was not over The truce not withstanding Said that the Commie hordes Had no code of honor And couldn't be trusted So they separated some of us Myself included And assigned us to the elite Air Base Defense School Taught by ex-Marines One kid was weaker than the Rest of us Worse yet he was a pacifist They took him out to the Rifle range and stripped him Down to his shorts And had him shoot at moving Targets for hours in the rain Not long afterwards He came down with pneumonia And spent three weeks in the Base hospital And was later dropped from the school The Military Intelligence boys questioned Us for days on end But no one betrayed the Code of Honor For we were trained to obey And honor was second only To the kill LACKLAND POEM TWO This same drill instructor Took us on a field exercise Bagged a rabbit with the Skill of a mountain man Removed his survival knife And slit it straight up Sliding his hand inside And coming out with its guts Then drank of the blood Smiling as he said "It makes a man of you." Two three others jumped right in As others screamed in joy or agony One leaving his breakfast On the ground We wore the smell of death like a whore's sweet perfume The day we graduated Accepting honors at the company Parade ground LACKLAND POEM THREE At Lackland Air Force Base During basic training We were asked to fill out A survey And asked some questions About our religious affiliation When the Sergeant asked me What religion I was I answered Protestant And when he asked what Denomination I answered Protestant Never having practiced Religion much The Sergeant didn't like my response Believing I was a wise-ass And asked again what denomination I was and I responded in the same manner Until I was taken to the company barracks By another Sergeant and a Corporal With a smile on his pimply face Once there I was made to strip Down to my shorts And told to sit down on a chair While they alternated using me For batting practice Asking the same damn question Over and over again And my response was always the same Finally they grew tired of the game And told me I could get dressed That they would put down Atheist And why didn't I just say so In the first place And save everyone all the trouble A. D. Winans is a native San Francisco poet and graduate of San Francisco State University. He returned from Panama in 1958 to participate in the North Beach Beat literary movement. He edited and published Second Coming for seventeen years. He is the author of over 40 chapbooks and books of poetry and prose. His work has appeared internationally and has been translated into eight languages. He took an early retirement in 1995 from the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked in the Civil Rights Division, investigating cases of discrimination against minorities, women and the disabled. A book of his Selected Poems will be published this year by Feel Free Press in England. |
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