                                                                book 1




                                    
                                          
                                    
                                           
                                        

                                                 
                      ķ ķ ķ  ķ      ķ  
                      Ľ Ľ        Ķ    Ľ Ķ
                                          Ľ         Ľ
                 .                       
                   ķ     / ķ  ķ ķ   ķ  
                  Ķ       Ľ Ľ     \ Ľ Ķ
                    Ľ                                      Ľ

 december 1988, age 13 





   MZ-DMZ: favorite poems

 
 HUNTING
 ~~~~~~~
 Sighting down the long  black barrel
 I wait till front and rear sights
 Form a perfect line on his body
 Then slowly squeeze the trigger.

 The thought occurs
 That I have never hunted anything
 In my whole life
 Except other men.

 But I have learned by now
 Where such thoughts lead.
 My mind soon passes on
 To chow and sleep
 And how  much longer till
 I can change my socks.


                     -W.D. Ehrhart



 REPTILES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 There are two kinds of snakes
 in Vietnam.
 Mr. One Step,
 And Mr. Two Step.
 Named for how far you get
 after being bitten.


                     -Larry Rottman



 APO 96225
 ~~~~~~~~~
 A young man once went off to war in a far country
 When he had time, he wrote home and said,
 "Sure rains here a lot."

 But his mother, reading between the lines, wrote,
 "We're quite concerned. Tell us what it's really like."

 And the young man responded,
 "Wow, you ought to see the funny monkeys!"

 To which his mother replied,
 "Don't hold back, how is it?"

 And the young man wrote,
 "The sunsets here are spectacular."

 In her next letter the mother wrote,
 "Son we want you to tell us everything."

 So in his next letter he wrote,
 "Today I killed a man,
  Yesterday I helped drop napalm,
  Tomorrow we are going to use gas."

 And the father wrote,
 "Please don't write such depressing letters.
  You're upsetting your mother."

 So, after a while, the young man wrote,
 "Sure rains a lot here..."


                                -Larry Rottman



 SOUNDS OF WAR
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The tympatic boom of the huge bombs.
 The cack-cacking of the enemy's gun.
 The thud of napalm as it hits the ground.
 And the click of your weapon as you chamber a round.

 The lightning crash of the Cobras,
 The whizzing slash of shrapnel.
 The tiny pops from a mortar pit,
 And the explosive shattering of a direct hit.

     Then the screams of the wounded,
     And whispered prayers for their lives.
     And the silence of the dead.
     Who hear no more
     the sounds of war.

                                 -Stanly Brownstein



 WHAT KIND OF WAR
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ask what kind of war it is
 where you can be pinned down
 all day in a muddy rice paddy
 while your buddies are being shot,
 and a close-support Phantom jet
 wraps itself around a tree and explodes,
 and you cheer inside?

                         -Frank Cross Sr.



 THE SILENT CITY CRIES TODAY
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The silent city cries today
 aware almost of the unexpected,
 crouchin in fear of what
 might never be.

 Or what might be all too soon,
 they know these tall, towering buildings,
 that they will shatter and fall
 under the might of
 what might be.

 How can I explain the unexplainable,
 Predict the unpredictable,
 Or determine when death shall catch us
 unaware
         in the robes of
                         war.


                             -Vanessa Howard




   MZ-DMZ: author's poems


 DEFINITION
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 My definition of poetry is words.
 Words with a message.
 A commentary about life.
 The words don't have to be organized,
 but so they mean something,
 maybe not to everyone,
 but to a
 small
 few.

 Poetry is a creative way to express your feelings,
 or say what you think.
 They can be long epics
 or short poems.
 Poems don't have to be about feelings,
 but about anything.


                                 -Igal Koshevoy



    THE CHERRY TREE (HAIKU)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      A small cherry tree
    looks very sad as it is
 reflected in the small stream.


                 -Igal Koshevoy



 ROADS
 ~~~~~
 Roads.
 Traveling far.
 Far from people, close to people.
 Going on, or stopping somewhere far.
 Coming, going.


                         -Igal Koshevoy



 MZ - DMZ
 ~~~~~~~~
 The MZ is over the hill there,
 there is danger, death and onslaught.

 The DMZ is just over the hill there,
 there is peace, there is happiness.

 But we, we are stuck here in the Death Zone,
 Fighting to save the lives of those people,
 out there, over the hill, relaxing.
 While we're getting shot and killed.

 We fight here,
 They don't care.
 You don't know,
 Till you get there.


                 -Igal Koshevoy



 SHARKS
 ~~~~~~
 Big, hungry, sleek, and fierce,
 as they swim through the soup of life.

 When they are mean they will get you,
 or not notice you at all.

 They will take what you have
 and then get you into their mouth.

 They swim alone, looking for prey.

 (watch out, they come on sea and land)


                         -Igal Koshevoy



 TAXIS
 ~~~~~~
 Taxi cabs busily rushing about,
 getting people places.
 Driving down roads, streets and alleys.
 Making turns, and stops,
 just
 like
 life.

                         -Igal Koshevoy



 FLASHLIGHTS
 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 Large and small,
 but both give light,
 warmth
 and a secure feeling,
 when the sun goes down.

 They give a steady beam
 like a strong helping hand when the batteries are fresh.

 But flicker on and off as you wish
 that they won't go out before the task is done.

 And when they do go out, painfully,
 exhausted, you pray that the sun will soon rise and soon lift the
 curtain
         of
            darkness.


                                              -Igal Koshevoy


Ŀ
  Copyright 1988 Igal Koshevoy and stated authors, all rights reserved!   
           "Mess wit' mah' poems n' 'Ah break ya' finghas!" -JTB            

