It was chicken fried steak
and black-eyed peas day
with stacks of white bread
on the side. I said no thanks
to the chitlins and candied yams.
The last snow had melted
and the fields though muddy
would soon be ready to plow.
The silver firs were showing
their first pale needles.
I’d eaten quickly,
still had forty-five minutes
til one o'clock formation
in the alley outside the barracks
so I decided to take a nap.
The mid day March sun
warmed the wool blanket
stretched tight on my bunk,
so i lay down, luxuriating
like a dozing cat.
I awoke to the whispering
voices of six guys in my platoon
crouched around a wastebasket
in the corner of the room.
I sat up and went over
to see what they were doing.
The wastebasket had six inches
of water in the bottom
and a mouse frantically
trying to climb up
the slick gray metal walls.
The guys said, you want to get in
on the pool? a dollar a minute.
Wilson's got four minutes,
Hassel's got three. Hey, Steve,
whatta you got?
Fourteen, seventeen and twenty
are still available.
Available for what?
Hassel says, til the mouse drowns,
you in?
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