MATTHEW W. LARCINESE
This poem is based on conversations with Matthew's uncle,
Gary Larcinese, who was a Marine Sniper - 4 years in Vietnam
I awoke in the middle of the night - my dream occurred again; the Huey helicopter, m-16 and the rice paddies... I lay in a swamp of sweat, shell-shocked... without gunfire- dismembered... without a grenade... life seeping from my body. The agony of the burning villages, women and children still lingering in my head. I lie awake all night - I drink my self to sleep - so depressed in the morning... I don't get out of bed.
THE VIETNAM VETERAN'S PRAYER
God look down on me from heaven,
so you can maybe see...
I am not the killer they created...
but the man you intended me to be.
Though the darkest of storms are behind me-
In my jungle it always rains,
the drops falling on my pavement
brings back 30 years of pain.
I know my friends I lost are all up in heaven-
because they were all too young to sin...
their exploded bodies now fully intact-
the Agent Orange washed from their skin.
God look down on me from up there,
so you can maybe know...
Khe San and the A Shau Valley,
that happened years ago.
30 years... of no one knowing
30 years... and still none will care...
For if democracy was so important then...
Why is the yellow man still there?
... And as these years make me older
I try to search for my peace of mind...
I face a heart turning colder...
'cause I cannot forget the war I left behind.
God look down from heaven-
and see me in my beautiful house...
forgive me for all those search and destroys,
forgive me for what I did in Laos
... And if you are forgiving God
then please understand my last pain;
You cannot take my soul from me when I die,
I left it in the cold jungle rain.
... And to my friends all up in heaven...
In D.C a great wall was built in your honor
a memorial for you soldiers who died.
My cynical thoughts faded upon my first visit,
as I knelt at this wall and I cried.
For you nameless Joe's all up in heaven,
and you faceless Joe's here on this wall;
For the Marines, Army, Navy and Air Force...
May God have mercy on us all...
©Copyright 1998 by Matthew W. Larcinese
36 year old Matthew lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan - in the suburbs of Detroit. He has been writing off and on for several years but has never submitted anything for publication - except for a few poems that appeared in a local magazine.
Tending to lean towards the Romantics in classical music (when he listens) and poetry preferences, Matthew admires the works of Keats, Lord Byron, and Shelly. His ultimate inspiration is Edgar Allen Poe and when feeling uninspired to write will read "The Raven" or the first few paragraphs of "The Fall of the House of Usher".
Matthew has written a novel but as with a lot of people, it has been sitting in a cabinet in his study for 4 years. One of his goals for 2004 is to brush the book off and submit it for publication, as well as to submit poetry written in the past but with which he never did anything.
His poem "The Vietnam Veteran's Prayer" is one of his favorite pieces to date.