"Unsustainable Rate"
By Mason Rodrigue
I ran cyclic,
It took a thirty rack to get to sleep,
adding liquor lead to angry outbursts
and shattered glass
before I collapsed in a drunken heap
to weep.
It took a pot of coffee and a few cans of caffeine
every morning
to get me going,
hungover at PT I at times fell out,
often felt shame and self loathing about.
Cyclically getting loaded and unloading,
my body and soul eroding,
when the barrel gets hot they think I might end up imploding,
headspace and timing was off and I wound up exploding.
All my love turned to hate,
I ran at the unsustainable rate,
I took an axe and hacked at fate,
the handle broke from the weight,
I broke my hands punching with all my might
at my own death’s gate.
I ran cyclic until I burnt out,
I tried to scream but had no breath to shout.
I gave everything I had without a doubt,
but what do I do when the 7.62 ran out?
Doc took my pack and said
“Buddy, buddy, it’ll be okay,”
it was only notional
anyway.
Mason Rodrigue is a former USMC machine gunner. Listen to his most recent interview on the Savage Wonder podcast here.
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What’s happening at VetRep…
Catch our interview this week with Ryan Stovall on the Savage Wonder Podcast here.
Tickets are going fast for the Parlor this season, reserve your seats for Woody Allen’s Central Park West here before they sell out! For the month of June we will be opening Central Park West with the winner of our inaugural 10-minute play competition, Fifteen Dead Souls, by Leilani Squire.
We are currently offering multiple dates for our online and in-person Playwriting for Veterans classes, and our Acting for Beginners class is now being offered weekly every Saturday from 10am-12pm. Scholarships for qualifying veterans, as well as multi-class passes are available. Registration details can be found here.