illness – Page 2 – I Ain't Marching Anymore

" 'Did you kill anybody?' The answer we were told to write was no"

I’ll write more this weekend about the situation at Fort Lewis, which should concern us all and has already got the attention of Amnesty International. But looking at GI Voice, the newsletter of the Fort Lewis GI coffeehouse Coffee Strong, I was gobsmacked by the following cri de coeur from a young Marine. The writer,Continue reading “" 'Did you kill anybody?' The answer we were told to write was no"”

" 'Did you kill anybody?' The answer we were told to write was no"

of time warps, and beside-the-point ANSWERs to worlds that can wait

a little rant, about something that’s none of my business.

The months reading/writing about the “Vietnam years” made me feel more strongly than ever about trends I’m seeing in some of these newer veterans’ groups — stuff I keep TRYING, in good journalistic fashion, to shut my mouth about so that I can just watch it happen in real time. It’s about the perpetual dance between dissenting veterans and groups of the sectarian left, for whom the latter are sort of a dream date.

poetry friday a day early

cause that’s how it feels sometimes. The Author to her Book Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth did’st by my side remain, Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad expos’d to public view, Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge, Where errorsContinue reading “poetry friday a day early”

call it love or call it reason

More flotsam from my life-on-Mars phase: I didn’t know this video existed, until now. I wish I had a clip of Ochs’ performance at the first Winter Soldier (two years later than this TV appearance) but this is good enough for now. Knowing that the vets in Detroit heard Ochs’ anthem, just before four daysContinue reading “call it love or call it reason”

can you hear me major tom?

So I’ve been of late calling myself “Billy Pilgrim,” when people ask me how I am; digging tenaciously through those mad years we call “the Vietnam era,” which I subtitle as “When Everything Blew Up and Everything Grew.” What, she’s not done yet? Not yet, not when I spent nearly three weeks with the likesContinue reading “can you hear me major tom?”

studying with truman

Sometimes things happen in the right order. If I had been a conscientious student at Hunter High School, I’d have read this book under Jack McNeil, my very first Creative Writing instructor. At the very least, you might think I’d have taken it 20 years later, as a narrative-obsessed journalist. But the true-crime genre itContinue reading “studying with truman”

happy birthday to an addiction

As someone who’s never gone back since my first in 1990, I can at least tell you iPod-youngsters that it lasts (tho I sometimes wonder if what I’m addicted to is spending too much money). Still, it’s hard to fault something as I my fifth Mac. Godspeed to your health, Mr. Jobs.

There sat down, once, a cold war on america's heart

I didn’t know the video above existed, of my not-so-secret sensei JB.*, so excuse me while I catch my breath. I’ll wait, too. while you catch yours; here’s the heartrending poem he’s declaiming in that Irish-Woody-Allen accent. But that’s not the John Berryman poem I’m thinking about today. I’ve never been a fan of DreamContinue reading “There sat down, once, a cold war on america's heart”