Dragonfly (page 37)

The next poem in Dragonfly was originally inspired by The Tunnels of Cu Chi, a book by Tom Mangold and John Penycate (1985). When I taught at Humboldt State University, starting in 1989, I met David Shaw, a Native American veterans' counselor at the university, and he told me about his US Army service in Vietnam where he was a tunnel rat. Thanks to David for some of the details in this poem. Tunnel Rat —for David Shaw Scorpions, salamanders, spiders, earthworms tracing dim tattoos in the target beam of my flashlight. Here, I am my own man. Up there, buddies stuck in the crotch of the Green Mother. The Corps. Vietnam: one hundred degree heat and leeches—shriek of jets and choppers—chicom grenades and pungi stakes. Just now, a scritch ahead to my left. A snake . . . or Charlie crawling to his post? I heft my .45 and flick my light off. I hold my breath. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Empty—just a hole in the earth—and then a face, the moon. My weapon’s on autogetem— Rock and Roll—Mad Minute—till I’m bleeding from both ears. Thunder jazzing the tunnel like Jimi’s guitar, like breaking glass. I’m out of there, back in the sun. Fire in the hole. Our frags boom in the ground, deep and hollow. Then another tunnel. Another tunnel. Always another tunnel. But you know I’ll always go down. The dark hush, the cool air on the back of my neck. I love the tunnel, the solid weight in my clenched hand of pure steel. There it is: the solace of pure fucking steel. Page 32 Photo from "The Tunnel Rat Experience in the Vietnam War" (The Armory Life). David Shaw is an Apache and joined the US Army during the Vietnam war in order to fulfill his tribe's cultural traditions of being a warrior. During that war, there were many Native Americans who joined the service for that very reason. Tom Holm's book Strong Hearts, Wounded Souls: Native American Veterans of the Vietnam War, discusses that phenomenon as well as how Native American soldiers often had an easier readjustment back to civilian life from their tribal ceremonies to heal warriors after war. Check out the two books I mention in this post about fighting in Vietnam. As always, I'd love to get some feedback or discuss anything with all y'all. Comment, okay? Thanks. Ingat. DRAGONFLY FIRST CONTENTS PREVIOUS NEXT LAST