KAMIKAZE
            
            I got it wrong
those first few times;
I'd fly back into base all smiles,
happy to have gotten so close & happy
to have made it back alive.
Forgive me; I just didn't get it.
The general was a patient man;
he explained it was better to be dead
right than to live a long life
                              of near misses.
He told me the price of failure
                                  was life.
Believe you me, next time I take off
it'll be for keeps.  I'll only be happy
smashing into the bald face of any mountain
but of course I'd rather not go alone;
I'd rather take someone with me.

all poems from the chapbook HELLBENT
from Lazy Frog Press bullpen@lazyfrogpress.com