REFUGEES

I don't remember much of the US media coverage but it seemed FOX and CNN conveniently overlooked the displacement of 100's of 1000's of people because of what we were doing

     

       Beautiful sparkling desert stars

          glow in the Bedouins sky

 

          Allah was born in this desert

               look up and see why

 

     Up and down the streets and alleys

             see them everywhere

 

       Bombed out statisics nowhere to go 

           with their dead eyed stare

 

         Wretched Refugees pathetic

              walking Zombie dead

 

              Reluctantly I lay my hand

              on a lice infested head

 

             Dysentary skin infection

             stench pigs would revile

 

                Give a girl an MRE

          and watch her force a smile

 

        Repulsive pathetic and pitiful

          Homeless is what we do

 

       We displaced an entire nation

                  courtesy of you

 

    Oh really? No you bought that s**t

                 About his WMD'S

 

           Listen pookie I was there

           So don't you bullshit me

 

      God was born here in this desert

     and gave this land his christening

 

                 Allah be praised

               is that what you say

                Oh sweet cheeks

                 He's not listening

Author's Note

One night We were sent to supervise refugees in a school auditorium in the south of Bagdad. We were a crack front line Marine infantry unit and thought it was total bullshit cause that was the kind of crap they pushed off on army reserve units. It was packed like a championship football game and We'd never been so close to so many civilians before. Imagine being packed into a building with hundreds of desperate people past the end of their rope that didn't speak english and so far as they were concerned their plight was all your fault. It was represively hot. It stank like sewage, sweat, and death and the electicity was out. Other than our field lights we couldn't see what was going on and shit was going on everywhere. The kids would come up to us in droves with their dirty little hands out begging "hey mistah you gimmi" That was about all the english most of them knew. We had care packages and a few MRE'S to give them. Most of tHe grown ups hung back cause they knew how bad our tolerence level was and if a grown up did speak up it was women that did it. Most of the men wouldn't even look at us. The kids didn't care. They knew we wouldn't hurt them and they just wanted something, anything they could hold as a light in all that desperation. It was One of those great experiences of my life that makes me the man I am today. EEEK...

Reviews

[Sirius King]

very thought provoking

my fav line:

We displaced an entire nation
courtesy of you

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you so much for reading Refugees Serenus

[Sirius King]

np :-)

[Mr Dunne Poetry]

Wow,this poem is so powerful. The message behind this speaks volumes. Well done BR :) You're author's note should be put into a book, very thought provoking.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you for reading CCCP

[Mr Dunne Poetry]

You're welcome :)

[KAOlmsted]

Powerful stuff. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is not one writer on this site, that I am personally aware of, who is writing this type of scathingly honest political/military exposition. Behind the comic relief, there is a real message, and I have been trying to think what I am reminded of when I read your pieces and it's finally come to me...it is on the same level as that morbid gallows' humor often associated with veteran law enforcement officers; that "if I don't laugh I will cry or seriously mess some s**t up" mentality.

Well done. As usual.
-kimmer

[Baby Ricochet]

That's exactly where it comes from. We had the same black humor in the corps. Thank you for reading refugees kimmer.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you. All I have.

[Marie]

Quite a poem, yes...you'd think if Allah is all-compassionate He'd do something...

[Baby Ricochet]

yeah you would think so.

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

You're work and style are so powerful. I feel speechless.

[Baby Ricochet]

thanx. Just one of the many ungodly catastrophes that made up my 2 tours of Iraq

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

I cannot imagine...but your work is quite valuable in helping me understand how you felt.

[cynthiabuhainbaello]

Thank you for having the boldness to write this very touching and informative account of your Baghdad experience. I have an Iraqi friend who cries everyday for the destruction of his native land because they were blamed for 911, and up to now they and their children suffer. Imposing democracy on a nation with a totally different culture and which is politically unprepared for it is like annihilation itself. Perhaps history will reveal more than what we all know now, but a lot of war vets are already coming out with the truth of what is actually being done in Iraq, all in the name of "freedom". Again, thank you for posting this.

[Baby Ricochet]

I'm sure she does. I know I still do sometimes. The truth is the vast majority of those people did nothing bt be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A catastophe that biblical has to be seen for it to really sink in.

[Heather Maria]

Your poetry reads to me more like a journal entry. It's so much more real than what some people on here write about. I think that there is such a reality and truth behind your words (at least in the emotion behind it) that it really connects with people. If you haven't thought about publishing them you should.

[Baby Ricochet]

thanx