Join the University of Arkansas at Monticello MFA this summer as we feature work from our recent graduates, current students, and alumni.
Michael Frizell is the Director of Student Learning Services at Missouri State University and holds an MA in Theatre and an MA in Creative Writing from Missouri State University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is the editor of The Learning Assistance Review, the peer reviewed journal of the National College Learning Center Association, and his creative nonfiction has been published on the National Gallery of Writing, Mensweb, Red Ink Journal, The Moon City Review, and others. His poem, “Watching Apocalypse Now” was published by the Good Men Project in January.
Watching Apocalypse Now
He spoke of the ‘Nam only when drinking
and rarely drank.
Hiising, “It was really like this.
Just goddamn like this,”
his python hand strikes
and grips my tricep.
asphyxia trepanning the tips of tingling fingers.
My father forces me to watch.
The VCR uncoils
muttering with forked tongue
“This is the end, my friend,”
as Kurtz posits piety, a slithering
god to the godless.
Willard, sent to stop him,
succumbs to constriction.
“Riding the snake to the ancient lake,
its skin old and cold.”
Unblinking, I start to cry
as Willard’s machete charms
the snake-god man
into thick springs
of curving flesh
peeling and pulsing
blood, and still he hacks.
He releases me
when mom shouts something.
Filled with liquid,
my father’s predator eyes
perceive the flickering soldier
and living room
as memories hiss and coil.
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/chb-watching-apocalypse-now/
Michael Frizell is the Director of Student Learning Services at Missouri State University and holds an MA in Theatre and an MA in Creative Writing from Missouri State University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is the editor of The Learning Assistance Review, the peer reviewed journal of the National College Learning Center Association, and his creative nonfiction has been published on the National Gallery of Writing, Mensweb, Red Ink Journal, The Moon City Review, and others. His poem, “Watching Apocalypse Now” was published by the Good Men Project in January.
Watching Apocalypse Now
He spoke of the ‘Nam only when drinking
and rarely drank.
Hiising, “It was really like this.
Just goddamn like this,”
his python hand strikes
and grips my tricep.
asphyxia trepanning the tips of tingling fingers.
My father forces me to watch.
The VCR uncoils
muttering with forked tongue
“This is the end, my friend,”
as Kurtz posits piety, a slithering
god to the godless.
Willard, sent to stop him,
succumbs to constriction.
“Riding the snake to the ancient lake,
its skin old and cold.”
Unblinking, I start to cry
as Willard’s machete charms
the snake-god man
into thick springs
of curving flesh
peeling and pulsing
blood, and still he hacks.
He releases me
when mom shouts something.
Filled with liquid,
my father’s predator eyes
perceive the flickering soldier
and living room
as memories hiss and coil.
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/chb-watching-apocalypse-now/