Another Veteran with a Head Wound
Sam Berkson

“I see his uniform is woven / Of blood, bone, flesh and hair” – Adrian Mitchell

An ex-squaddie.
All misery and all lightness
council born and bred
scum of the earth, me.

Scum of the earth.
Not worth the lice his ma combed out of thick curls,
the third of five;
not worth the flies that bothered his head,
now shaved,
in Kuwait;
and not worth much help after he’d served his time.

Now, he salutes me.
3791902 King’s Regiment, Liverpool and Manchester.
On a mission to heal,
blood on his hands
and the death mark of swallows
tattooed on his arms.

Came back from Kuwait in ‘91
stood by his mate through a brain tumour,
three years for stabbing someone.
Wife done the dirty behind his back,
lost his house, lost his kids,
I’m all truth, me,
‘cause it’s in me, it’s in you,
it’s in all of us.
The voices talking through him as his voice talks through me.

5 years back,
he caught a man
earwigging
outside his house,
smashed three panes of glass to get at him,
met the police when they came for him.

I’m anarchy, me.
I’ve done working, I’ve been there, believe me.
I’m English.
Proper English.
I’m a Celt.
C. E. L. T.
‘cause I’m English,
me ma’s north Walian,
half me family’s Irish
and me name’s Scottish.
This is the longest I’ve had my hair –
rubbing his crewcut,
carrying the crosses of his nation
on a back that stood straight
for teachers, officers, wardens.

Half of what he says I don’t understand,
the other half I wish I didn’t-
but he’s talking to me:
I’m no wordsmith, he says,
but they – pointing at the football fans he’s just been talking to –
don’t understand a fucking word.

The way it is,
the way he sees it,
it’s not long before someone gets off their arse
and does something.

Came back from Kuwait in ’91,
38 years a football fan,
built buildings enough,
all anarchy,
another veteran with a head wound;
I’m here to heal,
know yourself, son.

Sam Berkson has been performing poetry since 2002. He has read at Latitude, Secret Garden Party and Bestival and he currently coordinates the Hackney branch of UK performance poetry network, Hammer and Tongue.

This poem appears in Sam's collection Life in Transit, from Influx Press.

Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter.
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