Matthew Borczon

There are things you just shouldn’t do

Don’t sleep
with a friends
girlfriend you
lose them
both and
if they
understand
at all
you only
feel worse

don’t join
a card game
that has
been going
on for
hours the
people left
have all
the money
and will
get all
of yours

don’t get
a tattoo
involving
the war
or any
deployment
you will
have the
faces of
soldiers and
Marines  women
and children
tattooed behind
your eyes
for years
and years
to come
anyway

and don’t
bring your
boyfriend
when your
father asks
you to lunch
you think
fathers are
strong and
steady like
oak trees
but we are
a little
like orchids
the longer
you leave
us alone
in the cold
the closer
we bend
towards
the ground.

 

Genghis Khan had over 200 falcons

He was
dyed blonde
and lived
on a diet
of steroids
and protein
powder he
tended bar
at the place
I worked
he used
to tell
everyone
he had
slept with
over 100
girls and
when I
would ask
him if
any of
these women
ever slept
with him
twice
he looked
at me
with eyes
that said
he didn’t
know and
didn’t care.

 

After the war

Brian took
up power
lifting I
saw him
pick up
the back
of a car
to raise
money for
charity
I think
about this
today as
I try
to break
my PR
on the
upright bench
press
and I
guess it
makes sense
to spend
time even
too much
time trying
to get big
after Afghanistan
showed us
all how
really small
we are.

 

Matthew Borczon is a writer, nurse and retired navy sailor from Erie Pa. He has published 18 books of poetry, the most recent, Post Deployment, is available from Dumpster Fire Press. He publishes widely in the small press and is taught in universities as part of an intro to poetry curriculum. He has been nominated for the pushcart and Best of the Net. When not writing, he is a nurse in a plasma donation center. He is married with four children.