The Zone (Redux)

   ~ Laos 1972

known variously as:

Indian Country,

the Shit,

the Jungle
& the Zone.

bloody stumps,
flying metal,

charred flesh,

screaming agony,

cellular fear,

burning choppers,

dying men,
dead eyes

staring,

betrayal.

“Don’t mean fucking nothing.”

not a place
on a map
but a state of mind
-
my mind.

The place vanished,

but the Zone
remains
a jungle
in my head
& some things

return me there.

there i learned
the necessary.

in the Zone,
only predator and prey,
kill or be killed,

win or die,

the quick and the dead.

in the Zone

only survival matters
-
no morality,
no right or wrong

no lies,

no truths,
no fair,
no unfair.

no rules at all.

in the Zone
everything is allowed…

meet the enemy,
destroy him,

maim him,

outsmart him,

walk away
with the blood of others
squishing in your boots

feeling gloriously alive.

friend,

brother,
enemy,

child,

lover,

you do not
- ever -

want to meet me

in the Zone.
–mce