A Alpha, B Bravo


Entered the American sector on Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse
                                                                                    had visas stamped in my passport
                    UDSSR/CCCP, Kommandantur
                                              US Army Berlin   & DDR                          bastards
                                    refused me the Iron Cross
                                                                           captured Soviet officer
                   with short, blonde curls and shorter skirt
                                         at the barrier gate for photo-op                    bought gas
            mask that looked like Edvard Munch
                                    screaming                  a bully-green volkspolizei peaked cap
              & a Checkpoint Charlie T-shirt                     courtesy of Wall Art

                                                                                          victim of rally
                        exceeding three persons
                                                might’ve jumped from the third floor
                                                                                       and missed the blanket
             so made good my escape down Oberstrasse to

                                                                 THE WALL

                    sizing up petrol tanks boots roof racks floorboards of Volkswagen 1200s
no go          so
clawed up wire mesh
                                 grabbed at barbed wire
                                                               rolled over
                                                                              hands torn
                                                                                               across death
strip                               chained wolfhounds
    snarling        booby                                                                            traps
            shit scared              naked                    stark                   blinding
light                                          trip
                                                                       wires
dodging
n ducking alongside buddy Steve McQueen                     SS border guards!                                                                                                                                                                 
                        storm troopers fire storm                  F I R E! 
                                                                             shoot to kill the fg schweinsteigers!!!
             
                  

            Peter Fechter, eighteen, still lies bleeding to death in No Man’s Land

                                                                                                        
Michael Small
                      Berlin, September 12-October 22, 2005

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