"American in Iwakuni"

By Dex

Some nights I still smoke
Black American Spirits
like a wannabe hipster
They taste like a decade
with the beer I haven’t fully given up
They taste like
Iwakuni at 3 in the morning
behind the strip
of seawall barracks
like bad choices, and latex
allergic reactions
and Saturday chowhall brunch
10 years is 10 minutes
I’m climbing over the ledge
stumbling back to the smoke pit
My eyeliner is running down my face
but no one notices
Someone’s NCO brought hard liquor
or was it me
I can’t remember
We’re enlisted disasters
and I’m not married yet
just a girl in a Japanese river
I’ll arrest them tomorrow
Tonight
is smoke and beer and people I should have
taken home but didn’t

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Dex is a poet and former USMC Military Police Officer. You can follow her here.

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What’s happening at VetRep…

Listen to our latest episode with Kimberly Evans on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.

If you can’t wait to get back in the parlor with us, go ahead and reserve your seats for September, for Chris Soucy’s “The Absurdity of it All”. Chris Soucy is a VetRep resident artist and Army Veteran. He is a co-founder of Odd Lot Improv and the Savannah Shakes Theater Company, and has worked as an actor, puppeteer, writer, director, and filmmaker, with over 30 years of experience in the theater industry.