27 September 2009

LONG TRIP OUT


he's been out there soldier-in for a
fascist state, so don't ex-
pect too much fun on the
very first date, he'll be
missin the life, he'll be
missin the food, he'll be
goin around in this pe-culiar mood, wond'rin
how did he get back here in the World
with the freaked-out hippies and the
dopesmokin girls, and it's a

long trip out, from the Ia Drang Valley,
it's a sad bad ride, when you're far away
from the good ol' boys you left behind in-country,
where the only thing you want is
just another day . . .

well it may sound to you like a custom exhaust,
but that ain't what he's hearin and he's
flashin back, lost in the
middle of a night full of fire and fear, and he
don't even know who
he's hangin with here, and that
joint you been smokin that you thought would help
it's just makin things worse, you're even
foolin yourself, 'cause it's a

long trip out, from the Mekong Delta . . .
it's a last lost chance, when you need a friend,
and you're flyin on out of
Cam Rahn Bay at midnight,
and you won't know how to
get back home again.

~~~ from the novel Inherent Vice, by Thomas Pynchon

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