1.Sarge
All the fuck yous and chee bais
In the world
Couldn’t save you, Sarge.
What luscious melodies your mouth strums.
What sentiments!
You have no need for those.
No, no more. You’re a god, mighty.
But you recall, don’t you.
When you came through the bush
Hunched low to avoid those thorns
Mottled green camo
Trying to be one with nature
Those leaves whispering at night
Here
There
Everywhere
Crunch crunch crunch
Bang bang bang
Like boys with toys
Play-acting at defence.
Y’know, Sarge
Rain in the bush
Doesn’t sound
So much different from
Rain on parade
180 drops per minute
Range of 2 kilometers
5mm caliber
All incoming
Staccato thunder
So Sarge
Lets play-act defence
Harassment and Interdiction
Harassing my sleep
Interdicting my leave
I turn off the lights
And pray for Saturday.
2.Injury
Right in the middle
Of FHM’s fleshy fruits
And hunched over skeletons
I remember
You came rolling in with
The company
Rolling rumbles of left-right-left
And crump-crump-crump
With the Burden of defending
The nation
Resting on your shoulders
(The Burden consists of a no. 4 uniform, an entrenching tool, and a pair of shoes, mess tins, toiletries, and extra underwear)
We are the bold, we
Traverse great continents
Fighting under the crescent and 5-stared banner,
The blue halo and scarlet lightning
Of the crimson thunderbolt throne.
Glory to the Golden Lion!
How the Malaysians feared us!
We the warriors
The dream-spirit of war
Blood-eyed, relentless, reckless
Carrying us into the canopy’s shadow
The foliage consumes us
As we consume it,
Route marching
Into the gleaming emerald palm,
Caught in the jungle’s thorned fist
Route marching.
And roll on
And on.
And so
They tell me I’ve
Beta-planetheritis
In this white room
With white people
And hunched-over skeletons
And FHM’s fleshy fruits,
In Tekong’s medical center.
3.Rush
In deep,
Spaced-out breaths
You register
Fire Control Order
Piecemeal.
In the jungle’s maw
Delicately engulfing you
Bit by bit
SECTION
Drawls the sect. Commander
You get behind cover
And aim your weapon ahead
Oiled, slick, seduction.
So fascinating
That hard black gun-metal.
You feel like stroking it
Awesome, lethal, life-taking power
Encased in such a smooth body
Like your billion horsepowered engine
In a sleek, obsidian-chromed Mercedes.
STRAIGHT AHEAD
Rasps the sect. Commander
You fire
There’s the flash, golden.
On, then
Off.
And it bucks
The jerk and
Follow-through
And you savour
The cordite
That cordite that slowly
Nibbles your face away
FIFTY
Rumbles the sect. Commander
You watch the cartridge
Spin lazily away into the dirt
Twirling twin trails of smoke.
Metal rim of the percussion cap
Winking, teasing, mocking
“Look! I’m free! I’m freeee….”
ENEMY
ENEMY BEHIND TREE
The sky grinds to a halt,
The trees watch, waiting
With bated breath,
As do you
RAPID-
FIRE!!
