“A Haze of Green”

Tyler R. Martin

As far as I recall,
It was a haze of green,
On cold North Country nights
So boozy and mean.

With stripes on their chest
And the worst God complex:
The serious sergeants who
Sputtered sobriety
By whom the simple were impressed.

The barroom battlefields off base,
All cater to us,
With eyes on our pockets,
In U.S Army they trust..
Braving scotch snipers, bourbon rockets,
We feel as though we must,
It’s where we gamble for glory,
And are all hitting bust…

Forged in formation,
The apathy of me,
The Army blind to its members
And sad soldiers too shitfaced to see.

Train six stressed months
For a mentally draining
Menial task,
Sweeping floors and self inflicting lumps
But that perpetual horror is all in the past.

As I can recall,
In a haze of green,
On cold North Country nights,
So boozy and mean.