Untitled (3)

fifteen and one fifty, an ambiguous cipher -
an enigmatic strand, of which you were the one...

Tokyo Rose...

I first heard her shrill broken voice there,
raw, lean and scared, barely a man...this wasn't the Iowa I knew
My rifle barrel...hardened steel...and bedroll in hand
A word from the Chaplain (we called him 'Charlie') ,
and then the voice came to 'dismount'...I did not look back

My manhood felt the warmth of your salty water
I was just a kid...only nineteen...perverse in retrospect;
erotic to a nineteen year old at fifteen and one fifty
...to be honest with myself, and to you, I am envious -
envious of the feel of the eroticism, as I recall,
of my manhood in the spring of life

I lay with you on the beach that day,
while the others took their positions
And during the lonely nights I gave you my seed
...several times over...
(loneliness will do that to a man, you know, especially in a time of conflict)
...and many times over you accepted in silence,
as though you never knew you had been defiled -
or as though you approved

I have since heard that a pearl was borne out of wedlock
...in the south pacific

fifteen and one fifty
my Marianas

poem©GW Crow 2008. all rights reserved.