Post Traumatic Rampage (a.k.a. “Pit Meat”)

Strange day today.  Paid some bills, got my broken back X-Ray’d by the VA, and nearly got ran off the road by a total psycho. I was on my way back from the post office when I pulled behind a crappy gray dent-magnet.  The car was moving roughly 15-17 mph, swerving lazily all over the lines, and the past-middle-aged mostly bald man wearing the sweaty once-white wife-beater was slurping on hot-wings with both hands.  (a lot of hyphens in that last... Read More

Military Industrial Complex

Read this shit you assholes! Excerpt from Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address; January 17, 1961 “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to... Read More

Metamorphosis

I made my escape after 5 hardcore days of my VA Beach friends trying to give me liver cancer and even though every part of me just wanted to get back on the road I was torn.  It was hard to say goodbye to the friends and places.  Memory is a dirty liar when it comes to things like this, and for some reason even though I was haunted by the experiences of a life that was gone, there was a part of me that didn’t want to leave.  I met Colin on my... Read More

Necropolis

I step off the death flight still in a daze from the pills and boredom and immediately throw my kit into my rental minivan (I got a free upgrade so just shut the fuck up right now).  Power through a three hour drive from DC to VA Beach for the first Halloween I’ve spent stateside for as long as I can remember.  My brain is having trouble adjusting.  Maybe it’s the Ambiens, maybe culture shock, but everything starts to seem weird.  And not... Read More

War Wacky

Time was drawing close for me to get out of Iraq (hopefully for the last time).  Every time I’m about to get the fuck out of this place my tolerance for bullshit goes way down.  This is lousy because I don’t have patience for anything, but at the same time all madness of the place seems to resonate more vibrantly in my mind giving me pause to reflect on truly how fucked up this situation really is.  It all started about 2 weeks out.  Two short... Read More

End of the Line

I’m finally back, god it feels good. The trip home was an insane rollercoaster. I have a lot of notes on my final days in iraq as well as the road trip and everything else. The nov 1 post was actually a october one that i never got a chance to upload. hopefully that will tide peeps over until i get the next big article put up… little prelude here.. this one is crazy… fucking crazy. I kind of went all the way and then some. Regardless,... Read More

Musical Autobiography

Making movement toward home. I get mixed up sometimes and call this place home. I gotta stop coming here so my brain doesn’t get confused. In celebration of my escape from this place I wanted to put together a song list that would embody my plight over here for the past couple years. This is tough because its all other peoples’ poetry, but I wanted something that carried with it my thoughts and experiences. Not a small challenge, and I... Read More

Home Sweet Home..?

(3 days to go) This is probably going to sound crazy. I have no idea what the reason is behind this, but I am feeling like nervous about coming home. I can’t explain why and it doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t get me wrong here, I am totally pumped about coming home. I mean, I really really really want to come home and never look back on this shitty fucked up place, but I feel nervous about it. This feeling is pissing me off because... Read More

Tracers in the Sky

(7 days to go) The locals are going crazy right now. Its Eid-al-Fitr – the holiday that celebrates the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Gunshots are everywhere, you can see the red tracer rounds float pendulously over the city before they go dark. We have like 15 giant boxes of special Eid dates to give out as gifts and almost as much special “middle east pastries”. I think I’m gonna go sprinkle rat poison over the stuff for... Read More

Insomnia

(10 days to go) Its 3 oclock in the fucking morning and I can’t sleep. Again. God DAMN it. I don’t think its stress, maybe excitement about coming home… I dunno about a million thoughts are all swimming around in my head about work and relationships and money and life and I can’t turn off the sound of my own gears turning. Its crunch time here. Thats what I call it anyway. Whenever I get short over here I really focus on getting... Read More