MICHAEL CASEY ~

pentagon



in country the My Lai tragedy

occurred before my time

and the lesser Seymour Hersh story

on Ky Chanh, Quang Tin Province,

was before my time as well

but my patrol route

on Highway One

was through Ky Chanh

and I remember once near Ky Chanh

seeing children play with a stick and ball

with what looked like a pitcher's mound and a home plate

and then there were four bases

now I wish I had stopped

taught them something about the game

but that would mean time travel

you can't get there from now




———————————

Michael Casey
Check Points
Aastra Press, 2011

Michael Casey was born in 1947 in Lowell, Massachusetts. After graduating from Lowell Technological Institute in 1968, Casey was drafted into the US Army and served as a military policeman in Missouri and Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province. His first collection of poetry, Obscenities, was published in 1972 and chosen for the Yale Younger Poets Award. The poems were largely inspired by his time in Vietnam. 

MILLRAT ~

driving while under the influence



it was three AM and I hit

the blinking yellow light

on the route three rotary near Drum Hill

we got out quick

to throw away beer cans

and then I backed up the car a bit

and tried to go forward

but the car wouldn't go forward

so I backed up around the rotary

into a gas station

I figured I could put my car

in the row of cars already there

and nobody would notice     right?

I get out and hide behind but

by this time I can see the flashing lights

and it was really something

the police cruiser goes around the rotary

take the exit I took

and comes right to me

I was alone      all my friends split

and they get me      for leaving the scene

driving under the influence

and being a minor in possession

all kinds of stuff      right?

I asked the guy found me

how'd you catch me?

he said he followed the leaking radiator

it leaked after the crash      right?

fifty million dumb cops in the world

and this guy

has to be a genius



———————————————
Michael Casey
MILLRAT
Adastra Press 1999


*by the way, "I asked the guy found me"
is how the line reads in the book

WAR ~

anthem

second most popular song
for our unit
third platoon of the 23rd Military Police Company
was Ten Years After's
"If You Should Love Me"
but the most popular
number one quodie song
always blaring from our hooches
was a tribute to John Fogerty
so, it wasn't the "Fortunate Son"
it was "Proud Mary"
as soon as the song finished playing
there was an added chorus
a unit leitmotif
yiant got that song
on that fuckin tape deck again
yet?
there was a fist fight
when someone said Fogerty
in real life
evaded the draft







shotgun rider two



Lonnie tells me
the prisoner run
don't mean nothing
there's beaucoup
most of them civilian detainees
just couple armed draft dodgers
--this time again
I am in the back
of the three quarter ton
but now there's a lot of prisoners
I am at the very back
on one of the benches
right arm holding rifle
the stock on thigh
and the left arm holding
on to the railing
the prisoner to my left
puts his right arm around my shoulder
to prevent me from falling off
no no can't do that
khong the duoc----khong the duoc
--I tell Bagley about it later----big mistake
I asked him
why didn't the prisoner
just push me off the truck and book
and Bagley thinks
he thinks and says you know
half these gooks are queer







95th Evac



I saw it, man
a very hurt individual
hurting, man
he's on a plastic something
on top a trolley
and they are all over him, man
the tubes of blood and fluid
whatnot and gauze
sponging up blood
some of it bubbling
and he's little
you would not think
there that much blood
and then another chopper
this time
the wounded is American
the orderlies move the enemy individual
and they don't exactly throw him
but slide him quick
plastic sheet and all
on the floor
against the wall
and this American was hurting more
bigger you know
he had more blood to lose







pentagon



in country the My Lai tragedy
occurred before my time
and the lesser known Seymour Hersh story
on Ky Chanh, Quang Tin Province,
was before my time as well
but my patrol route
on Highway One
was through Ky Chanh
seeing children play with a stick and ball
with what looked like a pitcher's mound and a home plate
and then there were four bases
now I wish I had stopped
taught them something about the game
but that would mean time travel
you can't get there from now


MICHAEL CASEY
from Check Points
(Adastra Press, 2011)

Michael Casey was the Yale Younger Poet in 1972 for Obscenities. His later books include Millrat, The Million Dollar Hole, and Permanent Party. He was born in Lowell and to this day remains in Massachusetts.

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