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Saturday, September 14, 2013
The Vest
Composite-stacked ceramic
And boron carbide,
Produced in flawless stacks,
Set in ballistic nylon,
Wrapped in bit-mapped camouflage.
Hand-molded
plastic explosive,
Finger-dented
green/gray clay.
Strips
of duct tape torn on teeth,
Scavenged
wires,
A
nine-volt battery.
It is 35-pounds.
Add MOLLE pouches of
220 rounds 5.56 mm ball,
PVS-14 Night vision device,
Tactical LED flashlight,
Two PowerBars,
A St. Christopher medal.
The trauma plate
Clamped tight
Across a throbbing heart.
18.21
kilos,
Of
economic explosive power,
Chock
with steel ball bearings,
Rusted
nails,
A Minnie
Mouse keychain
Thrown
in as a joke.
Shaking
wires are inserted
Into
the terminals
Of
the battery
Hung
between supple shoulder blades.
Add Rules of Engagement card,
Geneva Convention booklet,
Improvised Explosive Device ID
pamphlet,
And omnipresent scrutiny
Of camera lenses, videophones, and
Ever-swarming blogosphere.
Weighed
with the severity of ancestry,
The
aegis of millennia,
The
densities of generations of
Faith
and righteousness,
It
seeks direct hits
On
newsprint across the globe.
The product of science,
Of industry, of modern innovation,
And limitless American funding.
It sails through Congressional budgets
Employs flag-toting constituents,
And stops AK-47 rounds
At point-blank range.
An
assemblage of
Time-honed
utility:
Iranian
plastique,
A
bastardized remote control.
It
costs two $100 USD bills,
A
few dinar,
Years
of refracted faith,
And
the unwavering word of Allah.
It is the best in the world
At what it does.
It
is the best in the world
At
what it does.
But it is useless in fire,
Defenseless against concussion,
And cannot check human will.
But
it is vulnerable,
To
both wavering faith
And
faulty soldering.
Every day shield
A rock of security,
Defender of organs and arteries,
It is his home away from home
Away from home.
Guardian, defender,
Resistor of steel-jacket projectiles
And flying shredded steel,
One vehicle of many
To take him far back home.
It
is both accomplishment,
And
accomplice.
A
pinnacle;
The
achievement of study,
Devotion
and trial.
The
key to Jannah,
His
vessel to salvation;
Virgin
maidens,
Beautiful
mansions,
And
the favor of Allah.
It is technology
It
is finality
It is power projected
It
is faith absolute
It is his savior
It
is his conduit
It
is his ticket out
Of
dead-end jobs
Of
street corner cigarettes.
And
now it walks the dusted streets of Ba’qubah
Searching for culmination.
Posted by: Unknown / 2:26 AM 
