Marine Man

Documentation: Captain Karen Dorman Kimmel�s quote: �The Uniform of My Country�

In the common world,

We see the results of a suffering economy,

A downgraded system,

An impoverished government.

Stock market crashing, mom and dad arguing

Can’t do the things we used to do

The pool with all the rules

Number one:  No fun.

From southern California to Manhattan Island

I see Marine Man

An old, meandering dog with a severed hippocampus

He’s lost in the store and can’t find his mother,

In the woods without a compass,

On a fishing boat in a storm,

Treading water in the middle of the ocean,

Without a lifevest, without his savior.

No mercy.

We see him hanging from the edge, slipping from the bar,

Yet we do nothing but stare into the bottomless hole

And pity a once thriving soul,

A man with ambition and a lust for triumph,

A  lover and a dreamer.

Once a warrior, now that man on the street.

He’s holding a sign of hope, a sign that calls out to deaf ears.

Without a word, his uniform also whispers…

“I wear my uniform with pride, for it represents the greatest nation of free people in the world.”

The irony is deafening.