Achilles
Two hundred yards away from anyone
who will hear your calls for help
or throw rocks at you
while you air your cheeks
skin conforming to the wooden,
rectangular ammo box
A moment’s peace
Lungs filling with cold air
as the temperature drops fast
now that the sun is setting
“Bury the mess, but capture the paper,”
Leave No Trace…
The irony, you think, as you see
dunnage scattered across the desert
This would all be easier if your stomach
wasn’t bound by a week of MREs
And then you hear it…
Or think you did.
It was the tumbleweeds in the wind.
But it gets louder and more constant.
You lift your legs in fear
and grab your E-Tool
Acting out the worst Brad Pitt
impression
It’s coming from the right,
at least, you think it’s the right—
it’s so loud all of a sudden—
You’re right! It slithers
into an open patch of sand
as you raise your weapon—
you know you have one swipe
Your fear strengthens your swing
and you hear sand crunch
under the sharp point
So swift the body still S’s a few times
You flick the body away
just to be sure.
Relax.
And feel relief.
As you walk back
with shovel and box—
your shield and spear—
you stab downward
Reenacting
your heroics.
The mighty Achilles.
0° 00’ 00.0” N, 85° 00’ 00.0” E
Squid ink muddies the anticipation of Pollywogs
trapped by Captain’s hands playing in the tub.
Mermaids, whales, sharks, suckers, dolphins,
crabs, lobsters, sea serpents all swimming below,
hidden under the miles of ocean traveled.
Waves lap at the steel skin, stalled like a city
on the dotted line.
The crew passing the rigors of inspection
through exercises in salt immersion, fusing our bones
to the ship, our blood and sweat added to the non-skid deck
while Neptune’s tears spill from hoses cooling our flesh.
West of home and North of nowhere. Knowing now the
Solemn Mysteries of what lies in the Deep and what it takes
to stay upon it: a shellback, sailing the Raging Main.
Blake Rondeau is a United States Marine Corps veteran. He obtained a degree in Creative Writing from the University of St. Thomas. His writing has appeared in the Summit Avenue Review, Proud to Be, and Military Experience and the Arts, Line of Advance. He was the Winner of the 2024 Colonel Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Award. Rondeau has led Narrative Therapy writer’s workshops for veterans transitioning into civilian life and communities who have experienced war. He’s happiest walking in the woods with his wife, daughter, and dog.
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