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While I opposed the war, I have counted many Vietnam Vets as friends and coworkers.
About 1972 while attending Junior College, (they're called Community Colleges now!), I was impressed by a young Vet missing both lower legs. I think it was a mine, (They're called IED's now!).
He was so singular, compared with myself and my fresh from High School fellow undergrads. I, who fancied myself a poet, wrote one about him.
Here it is from a very old notebook:
Fall rain and crowded
Commons Through smoke hazy sits the
cripple in his chair.
When he wheels through their piles,
dry leaf people scatter and
come to rest behind.
Story Themes: Art, Civilian, Dissent, Pete King, Poetry, Read, Saint Cloud, Saint Michael, St Cloud, St Michael
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