Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
I sprawl across my bed Somewhere, in the jungle
I lay sprawled across my bed. It's the time before dark, I spritz my envelope
with cologne He writes "Free" It's the time I've heard called Copyright 1999 Christina
*Term mentioned in the book "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam" -
by Christina Sharik
with pink paper and a blue pen -
and think about my day,
and what to say.
he sits with sheets of thin
writing paper - always white -
and a pencil with a worn eraser -
huddled under a poncho liner
writing in an unkind light.
He sits in a hole in the jungle
trying to keep dry;
his ink splotches are raindrops;
mine are from the tears I cry.
The time before I go to bed,
the time before the patrols go out;
the time "before".
and affix a stamp -
his pencil tears the paper,
his paper's damp.
and leans against a tree.
It's the in-between hour -
before I sleep,
before the patrols go out
and he's been writing, in a
bone chilling shower.
The Violet Hour.*
