M.A.S.H. 2020

Surgeons stand poised
over exposed deplorables,
while well-connected brokers
hold phones on sunny beaches.

The sky, a cloud, the sea.

Sucking chest wounds,
intestinal spills contained,
flak jackets and scalpels
jackals and other rascals

go, go, go, go

Antiseptic units operate,
blood spilled like milk.
Complex systems reign
over every f-ing bleep.

The sky, a cloud, the sea.

Bombed beyond their borders
oblivious to thundering mortars,
generals, drones, micro-chips,
red-crossed units operate.

go, go, go, go

Thoughts of home on hold,
suspended in theatres of the absurd
nurses swab to blot the wounds,
Mozart plays myths of Greeks.

The sky, a cloud, the sea.

M.A.S.H. 2020

Choppers whack, whack, whacking
arrivals depart blind medics
running low toward makeshift pads,
life hangs on every f-ing bleep.

go, go, go, go

Anaesthetized lost soldiers haemorrhage
God help them in their dreams.
Standing in clotted bottles
Doctors push known limits.

The sky, a cloud, the sea.

Covert operations
unheard, unknown, unseen.
Ripcords pulled in other wars
dangle sky and cloud and sea.