Johnny Got His Gun (IWP)

Johnny got his gun, yes he did. A rich white man wrapped in the flag told him get your gun and defend this land. He used hollow words like freedom, duty, honor, baseball and apple pie while dreaming of no-bid contracts and steak dinners and cocktails and hookers in Washington.

Johnny got his gun. The mud sucked his boots off and he cried for his mom as the rain fell and the earth shook. “Jesus Jesus Jesus,” he whimpered, curled into a ball, and watched his friends being shredded into pink mist.

Johnny got his gun and came home wrapped in the flag. It was a perfect California day. High fluffy clouds moved leisurely across the baby blue sky, a refreshing breeze blew in from the Pacific. Men in blue uniforms and white gloves moved silently, methodically. They handed the folded flag to a tall man with a rock face. He turned and marched crisply to the disheveled hump of a woman. He bent down to her. On behalf of a grateful nation…

Comments are closed.