THE WORK RESEMBLED A SMASH OF
COTTAGE CHEESE AND ROTTEN FRUIT -
FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Madam, your son has just been shot between the eyes,
please tell us in your own words why he died.
And madam must produce an answer or,
her son has disappeared
like so much peanut butter and jelly
on a Saturday afternoon,
eleven years before.

Get off my back Corporal, he's dead,
I'm sorry.
What do you mean, why?
And Corporal must produce an answer or,
his buddy has disappeared
like so much PX beer
eleven months before.

I'll be straight with you soldier,
you've lost that leg.
But with luck your right arm will be
as good as new.
And because soldier couldn't find
the answer polished for him
11,000 miles away,
he took a .45 and decorated the wall
with his brains.

Peter Deuel 1965