Dien Cai Dau

Seeing in the Dark

Seeing in the Dark The scratchy sound of skin flicksworks deeper & deeper, as mortar fire colors the night flesh tone. The corporal at the door grins; his teeth shiny as raw pearl, he stands with a fist of money, happy to see infantrymen from the boonies—men who know more about dodging trip wires & seeing in the dark than they do about women. They're in Shangri-la gaping at washed-out images thrown against a bedsheet. We're men ready to be fused with ghost pictures, trying to keep the faces we love from getting shuffled with those on the wall. Is that Hawk's tenor coloring-in the next frame? Three women on a round bed coax in a German shepherd— everything turns white asalabaster. The picture flickers; the projector goes dead, & we cuss the dark & the cicadas' heavy breath. 28 ...