Pain is pain is pain --- doesn't
matter if the injury occured in
peacetime or in war --- it still
hurts, all these years later ---
and what hurts worse is being
ignored, being told the pain is
all in your head --- like I enjoy
pissing all over myself, like I
like tripping over a dropped
foot, falling down, like I savor
nerves cramping or legs going
numb, with shoulders and neck
joining the ranks.  Older I get,
the worse it gets --- Tylenol and
Motrin only go so far before they
stop working.  They abandoned
ship a long time ago --- war is
hell, especially for one who
never saw battle but feels the
heat of wounds thanking me for
my service --- they remember.
They thank me twentyfourseven.

(c) 2010, Karla Dorman (5/23)