Such a hot afternoon.
It could have been a Wednesday, or a Friday, but not a Sunday.
Sitting on the driveway, brake parts scattered around me. And then the sound.
POM POM POM POM…
I remember this sound, I know what it is.
POM POM POM POM…
I close my eyes. I am not listening… I am feeling it.
POM POM POM POM…
And I am back to 1988…
Hardly moving through the marshes.
The glorious sun… burning my skin. Just like today, on this driveway.
With my eyes closed, I look around… Ohata, Jean Claude, Carli, and Ortega, I see them all… My company.
POM POM POM POM…
Carrying our rifles like crosses, drinking warm beer from our canteens, and shouting profanities at the pilot, like he could hear it.
And laughing like kids… because we were.
Hardly moving through the marshes.
POM POM POM POM…
It is close now.
I open my eyes, scanning the skies… here it comes.
POM POM POM POM…
Bastard! Can’t you see it? That I am still…
Hardly moving through the marshes.
Author’s note: Poetry is the art of putting in words the deepest feelings of the soul. Anger, love, fear, passion, frustration, joy, and sadness, all of them can be expressed by a stroke of a pen, and if the poem reaches the readers in a way that makes them feel something close to what the poet felt, then it can be considered a success. Some poems are written with much less noble intentions and are not meant to be profound. Those poems illustrate more frivolous situations, which is the case here. This silly attempt to make poetry tells us about a summer day in 2001, in Kennesaw, GA, when I was replacing brake pads on an old Toyota I owned, and I heard a Bell HU-1 approaching. The sound brought me some memories of an exercise day when I was in the Brazilian Air Force Infantry.
I started writing “Huey” during my English classes in 2001 but never finished it. Now, 23 years later, I think it is done.
The Classic Machines 
I remember flying in UH1 Hueys quite a bit during my time in Vietnam.
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It’s such an honour to have a Vietnam Veteran reading my stuff!!!! Thanks for stopping by.
According to a quick research, more than 7000 Huyes were sent to Vietnam during the war and an estimated 3000 were lost. I am happy to know you survived the onslaught.
The Brazilian Air Force retired its last Huey in 2018.
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Your poem brought my imagination to life. I pictured the opening scene of the television series “MASH.” Although, it could be any MASH unit. 🙂
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Thanks, Nancy. Thank God I never saw actual combat during the time I served. Although the sergeants always tried to make our exercises look as real as possible, the 18-year-old soldiers never took it seriously, it kind of looked like MASH indeed.
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I’m Jeremy Clarkson’s 4th cousin 🇦🇺
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Thanks for stopping by. How’s Jeremy?
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He, Richard Hammond and James May are still doing The Grand Tour
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That is good. They have a legion of fans worldwide. My favorite episode of Top Gear is the one they tried so hard to destroy a Toyota pick-up truck, and the damn thing just refused to die.
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