Verse 30 by Glen Alyn

In loving memory of friend and fellow songwriter, poet, storyteller, Viet Nam vet, Glen Alyn (born Glen Meyers)
and his beloved daughter, Sequoia, who died tragically, June 4, 2000....

Our love and prayers to Katheran and family.

Excerpt from Huckleberry Minh - The Man with the Hole for His Nose
by glen alyn

           Verse 30

     She moved away from Atlanta
     Too many people, she said
     Like it better in the country
     Just liked it by herself, she said
     Sometimes a Vet would come for awhile
     Til he went crazy
             Busted up the place and her
                   and she'd have to throw him out
     She had no fear of violence
                       or of being totally alone with herself
     Yet she liked company
                       in a distant sort of way
     Reaching out half way
                            then letting her arm fall to her side
     I asked why the funny little crabdance one day
     Seems she'd picked up a rare strain of VD in the Nam
     They gave her a choice
                                         Stay in Viet Nam
                                         Or cut all her insides out

     She didn't stay
                     She was a Donut Dolly
                     Volunteered for Viet Nam
                                                              as a civilian
     She did her duty
     Her courage came home with her
     And burned by the woodstove
     "I never light it til it's forty.
     Just don't feel cold til it gets down thereabouts."
     She never talked about Viet Nam
     She never talked about her insides
               But the one time
                         in three sentences
     Just kept to herself
     And kept to her chores
                                         in the woods
                                        Fence Chopping
                                       Wood chopping
                                           Canning
                                        Gathering eggs
                                         Tanning hides
                           Trying to make land payments
     I always wondered
                         if her radiance
                                      would have been fuller
     If she were whole

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Glen Alyn is a published writer ("Say Me For A Parable"), musician, and poet. He is the host of a weekly creative series featuring all of the above arts, every Tuesday night at 7pm at the New World Deli in Austin, TX.

Visit him there! Support your local artists and musicians!!!

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