Four Five Commando by Matthew M.C. Smith

Dartmoor speedmarch ’66
30 miles, do or die,
de-humans, rake-thin,
carry loads on backs.
Thick boots, breath-beaten,
noses, jaws, like blades
of cattle bones
littered on route.

Men of arms,
of Four Five Commando,
see beyond the upland hill-rim;
a promise of rain
to a green beret
beyond spit, pain. 
Checkpoints of stones,
jokes are thin,
frame-ache, sting of sweat,
body-rack past forest tracks
where whippet-lads lead
and bigger lads wane.

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Matthew M.C. Smith is a Welsh poet from Swansea. He is published by Icefloe Press, Wellington Street Review, Seventh Quarry, Back Story, Other Terrain and Welsh Haiku Journal. Matthew is the editor of micropoetry journal Black Bough poetry. Twitter: @MatthewMCSmith FB: MattMCSmith