Our Legacy
Jimmy Pappas served during the Vietnam War as an English language instructor for South Vietnamese solders. After a lengthy career as a high school teacher, he focused on writing poetry and has been published in over 80 journals. He is currently the Vice President of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. His poem "Bobby's Story" was one of ten finalists in the 2017 Rattle Poetry Contest and won its 2018 Readers Choice Award. It is included in his first book Scream Wounds, a collection of poems based on veterans' stories. He was the winner of the 2019 Rattle chapbook contest for Falling off the Empire State Building. Jimmy currently resides in New Hampshire.
By Jimmy Pappas
We raped
all of Saigon's
best women.
Sure they were prostitutes
when we met them,
but we prolonged the agony.
Tied the straps a little tighter,
twisted the arms a little harder,
pressed the knife deeper to the throat.
One day in a crowded barroom
while my hooker sipped
Saigon tea at five dollars a shot,
a man with no legs
rolled in on a platform
selling shoeshines for a quarter.
And Silence filled the room
and Silence filled the room
and Silence filled the room
with shame shame shame.