TYA No. 46

Juan Manuel Pérez

July 15, 2021

from the manuscript, THIRTY YEARS AGO: LIFE AND THE GULF WAR

Thirty years ago, flying to the front

early in the war, before the big push

the transport helicopter lifted up

into the bluest skies I’d seen that month

two of our squads onboard “Marine Airlines”

gunner by the door manning the big one

looking at the ground; beautiful, quiet

despite the immediate chopper noise

caught in the moment of HIS creation 

the back opening view was picturesque  

…until the fear of a volatile sky 

infected me with an old memory 

I was a child with a new pellet gun 

shooting at birds as they flew through the air

Juan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of indigenous descent and the 2019-2020 Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas, is the author of several books of poetry including two new books, SPACE IN PIECES (2020) and SCREW THE WALL! AND OTHER BROWN PEOPLE POEMS (2020).