Last one

Hopefully, this'll be my last post from Iraq. I walked around today with a camera, to try and document some of the daily sights I've been living with for the past year. I haven't taken many pictures, but there just doesn't seem to be much that I want to preserve for the future. Still, these give a decent idea of what it's like.

The alley where I live. Everything here is surrounded by concrete T-walls, so pictures of buildings are pretty boring. I live on the left there, just past the garbage can.

Once you turn past the T-wall, here's my row of Containerized Housing Units. One trailer, three rooms, six people. (Well, actually 5 people, since I don't have a roommate. One of the few perks to being the only female in a unit of 400 guys.) Those things surrounding the trailer are HESCO barriers, filled with sand for extra blast protection.
The door to my own CHU.
Inside.

Saturday afternoon, must be time to clean the weapon.

The shower trailer. Not like I'm complaining. I'm happy to have a shower.

The building where I work

Inside the aid station

On my walk up to the dining hall, I pass by Strykers.

And more Strykers

And more Strykers

Yup. More Strykers.

Can you see the writing on the left rear panel of this vehicle?

Yes, it's true. The Coasties are here. There are about 5 guys from Jacksonville, LA. I see them at lunch sometimes. I think it's funny that everyone else is driving around in uparmored Humvees, MRAPs, Strykers and Abram Tanks. The Coasties have this.

Anyway. That's it. My life for the last 11 months. I can't think of much that I'll miss. Except the moon. I see a lot of the moon, walking out the port-a-john every single night at 1am; walking to the gym at 4. I've tried taking pictures, but nothing does it justice. Oh, and the sunrises/sunsets. Those are impressive too. I won't miss them much, though. Not enough to want to stay.

We did our final medical outreach event yesterday. These things are incredibly depressing. Women show up with children who have severe, severe illnesses- congenital defects, disease, genetic disorders- that we never see in the U. S. Children in America who are born with club feet have surgery and physical therapy, and are usually walking at a normal age. Children who have liver failure get a liver transplant. Mothers get prenatal education and care (usually). 30 years ago, Iraq had nearly first-world class health care. Now, not so much. Yesterday we gave out a couple of wheelchairs, which was pretty great, but unfortunately, the only thing we could offer to many of these families was sympathy. And tylenol. We brought plenty of tylenol.

Hey, how 'bout that climate bill? Seems like only a few weeks ago that I was reading that it was a sure thing. Now it's dead. Thanks Dems. Way to make a difference. Thanks GOP.

In Time

W.S. Merwin

The night the world was going to end

when we heard those explosions not far away

and the loudspeakers telling us

about the vast fires on the backwater

consuming undisclosed remnants

and warning us over and over

to stay indoors and make no signals

you stood at the open window

the light of one candle back in the room

we put on high boots to be ready

for wherever we might have to go

and we got out the oysters and sat

at the small table feeding them

to each other first with the fork

then from our mouths to each other

until there were none and we stood up

and started to dance without music

slowly we danced around and around

in circles and after a while we hummed

when the world was about to end

all those years all those nights ago

1 July

Ooh, ooh! Big news on the home front. The US has named a new Poet Laureate. W.S. Merwin will follow in the footsteps of the Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Robert Penn Warren and Conrad Aiken. The 82 year old Hawaii resident writes some tough stuff. This is no Billy Collins (who I love), whose poems are made for browsing and reading aloud to your sweetie while snuggling on the couch on a rainy afternoon. Merwin requires some real effort, but it is worth it. Anyway, Congrats to Merwin and to America for continuing a tradition of excellence in poetry.

Good People

BY W. S. MERWIN

From the kindness of my parents

I suppose it was that I held

that belief about suffering

imagining that if only

it could come to the attention

of any person with normal

feelings certainly anyone

literate who might have gone

to college they would comprehend

pain when it went on before them

and would do something about it

whenever they saw it happen

in the time of pain the present

they would try to stop the bleeding

for example with their own hands

but it escapes their attention

or there may be reasons for it

the victims under the blankets

the meat counters the maimed children

the animals the animals

staring from the end of the world

Source: Poetry (December 1999).

For A Coming Extinction

From "Lice", 1967

Grey Whale

Now that we are sinding you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing

I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day

The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
And ours

When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And fore-ordaining as stars
Our sacrifices
Join your work to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important