I Knew Life Began Where I Stood

It Took Me 14 Years To Write Poems About Vietnam. I Had Never Thought About Writing About It, And In A Way I Had Been Systematically Writing Around It.

I Close My Eyes And Can See Men Drawing Lines In The Dust. America Pushes Through The Membrane Of Mist And Smoke, And I'm A Small Boy Again In Bogalusa.

I Think Of My Poems As Personal And Public At The Same Time. You Could Say They Serve As Psychological Overlays. One Fits On Top Of The Other, And Hopefully There's An Ongoing Evolution Of Clarity.

Cursing Themselves In Ragged Dreamsfire Has Singed The Edges Of,they Know A Slow Dying The Fields Have Come To Terms With.shimmering Fans Work Against The Heat& Smell Of Gunpowder, Making Moneyfloat From Hand To Hand. The Next Momenta Rocket Pushes A White Fistthrough Night Sky, & They Scatter Like Birds& Fall Into The Shape Their Liveshave Become.

I Am This Space My Body Believes In.