January 13, 2011

"Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell

A WWII Ball Turret










From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.