I Hear the Caspian is Lovely This Time of Year

The voice of the Waffen SS Oberst or Colonel

It is June 41 on the drive to Kharkov
and our tanks cover the steppes.

We control the skies.
Red smoke beckons us on.

The land is like melted wax
and I am walking past burned corn fields.

In the distance
our planes drop their eggs.

Up ahead are the T-34 tanks.
Inside each cabin are men

who wake daily praying for our deaths.
Red smoke beckons us on.

I see plumes of soot rising
from the the foothills of the Caucasus.

They say the oil beneath our feet
is on fire.

Jean Jones teaches English as a Second Language Basic Skills for Cape Fear Community College. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio and has a book of poems available on Amazon.com entitled Beyond Good and Evil. He has had poems published in Aphelion as well as Horror Zine online.

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