Lies

He was shot five times
And once with a crossbow.
He couldn't believe I didn't know
The Vietnamese used
Crossbows. Pinned him
Right to a tree
And the guy walks right up to his face
Out of the bush
And says
"Sorry"
And leaves him
Stuck up there like a poster of John Wayne.
"He's my friend," he says
Leaning his big face to me
Perpendicular
To the bar.
"My only friend
Wanna see the scar?"
I didn't say yes
But he showed me
Near his left armpit "See it?"
"Yes," I said
And the best part of it is
That he didn't seem to mind at all
I had lied



From Hesperides, Volume 3, Fall 1993
Edited by Richard Hartley and Michael Brewer