Lighting struck a platoon of basic trainees standing in formation
in the parking lot of a rifle range, just as the cattle trucks pulled in
to transport them back to their barracks.
There were about twenty boys that caught the bolt.
They were pale, shaking, mumbling, crying, staring blankly at me.
Like a bomb went off in the middle of us.
They just fucking flew.
I’m so cold.
I couldn’t hear my voice when I spoke-
Look right here at me.
You’re going to be all right.
What’s your name?
Stay with me now.
Matt Smythe from the Finger Lakes region of western New York. An Army veteran and lifelong outdoorsman, Matt suffers from an inability to sit still. If he’s not in the woods, or on the water, he’s scheming ways to get there. His work has appeared in Free Range American, Gray’s Sporting Journal, the Fly Fish Journal, The Drake, Southern Culture on the Fly, Revive, Midcurrent, TROUT Magazine, and a handful of other non-outdoors-related magazines and literary journals. He recently published a book of poetry with Dead Reckoning Collective titled Revision of a Man.
Follow Matt’s blog, Glorious Mayhem here.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Settle in with a mocktail and a dessert for Theresa Rebeck’s contemporary comedy of manners, Spike Heels. Set in Boston, Spike Heels explores sexual harassment, misplaced amour, and the possibility of a four-sided love triangle. The evening will open with playwright (and daughter of a veteran) Anne Valentino's ten-minute play YOU ASKED and then be followed by an intermission. Tickets sell out fast so get yours before they’re gone!
Veterans Repertory Theater presents the 2024 Savage Wonder Festival Oct 11-13. For three days VetRep will feature installations, music, and nightly performances from Veteran artists at our Main St. location in Beacon, NY. Come experience the evolving space, art, and immersive performances and come away with something both savage, and wonderful.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to Arts Mid Hudson for awarding VetRep the Dutchess programmatic grant in support of the Savage Wonder Festival.
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.