Alabama
"I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job."
— Sergeant James Anyett, US 1st Infantry, Fallujah, 2004
Last year it was whitetail in Barbour County,
the smell of pines and blood sweet as youth.
Daddy got my first kill mounted
as a 21st birthday present.
When my three littl’uns grow up
I’ll take them to where the breeze off Lake Eufaula
makes you glad to be an Alabamian
and teach them manhood, teach them
about the subtle differences between
Remingtons and Winchesters.
There are no longleaf pines here, no yellowhammers,
but I’ve got my buddies; I’ve got better gear
than back home even and I’m being paid.
Bagged five this morning. Goddam shame
they won’t let you take them home as trophies.
Although a couple were undersize and one was pregnant,
but those’re just as hard to hit as the big buck towelheads.
They were going to bring in mortars, but I said:
Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out.
I’m from Alabama.
Other poems by Tim Thorne
Jonathan Burke McHugo Comes to Town
Tourism
When in California
Bronte Country
Normality
Poems from 'The Unspeak Poems and other verses
Pentecostal Chillout
Advice to an Emerging Poet
Clancy of the Cultural Studies Department
Reviews of Tim Thorne's poetry
Mark O'Flynn: Best Bitter(1997)
Marilyn Arnold: Taking Queen Victoria to Inveresk (1997)
Janet Upcher: I Con (2009)
Mark Roberts: The Unspeak Poems and other verses (2014)
An interview with Tim Thorne
A conversation with Tim Thorne (2007)
Reviews by Tim Thorne
ALVAREZ, Ivy (edited): A Slice of Cherry Pie
ALVAREZ, Ivy (edited): We Don't Stop Here
BENNETT, Stefanie: Symphony for Heart and Stone
KNIGHT, Karen, MATHISON, Robyn, KNIGHT, Norma, REEVES, Lyn, WINFIELD, Liz: Republican Dreaming
LOMER, Kathryn. Extraction of Arrows
MANSELL, Chris: Mortification & Lies
MINTER, Peter: Blue Grass
RIETH, Homer: The Dinng Car Scene
SIMPSON, Matt: In Deep
WEARNE, Alan: Kicking in Danger
Book launch speech by Tim Thorne
TULLY, John: Robbed of Every Blessing