First Impressions

Our faces crowd the portal
of the banking stretch DC-8.
We assume a put-your-head
between-your-knees-and-kiss
your-ass-goodbye scene:
grenades explode, choppers hover
like hummingbirds as hand to hand
takes place in a jungle clearing.
F-4 Phantoms streak low
across flooded rice paddies,
suck reeds out of the water
in their booming wake.
Napalm canisters skip across
the brown water, tumble
end over end, belch
jellied fire and smoke.
Imagine then, our surprise:
Cam Ranh Bay split
in two by a blue speedboat’s wake, the water
skier waving welcome to Vietnam.