Matt Borczon- Three Poems

Matt Borczon is a writer and US Navy sailor who worked in the busiest combat hospital in Afghanistan in 2010, where he left a part of his soul. His poems have appeared in numerous small press magazines, recently in Busted dharma and the soul collectives 100 poems. Matt Lives in Erie, Pa.



Afghanistan 2010

Day 1

my first job

is to remove

156 staples

from the stump

of an Afghan

detainee

who swears in Pashtu

as my hands shake

and the marine

standing guard

laughs out loud

at his pain

and my fear.



No killing floor

The hospital

sits in

the eye

of a

sand storm

this war

scrubbed clean

with bleach

and lye soap

sterilized daily

this aint no

killing floor

the killing

happens

beyond the

flight line

of the

helicopters

here

is just

where they

come to

die



Helmand 2011

After

a really

hard night

at the

front of

the house

the corpsmen

would have

to mop

the blood

and pick

up the

gauze

and anything

left behind

clothes bones

hair skin

and teeth

we would

talk about

statistics

and wonder

how many

would survive

we never

said live

not ever.