Jim Heck

Jim Heck's father, Captain Norman Walter Heck, Jr., died inVietnam on December 8, 1964 when Jim was two months old. His father's death, the exploration of his spirituality and other childhood losses form the body of his work. Jim Heck is a graduate of Rutgers University College in English. He has had work published in: A Half Dozen of the Other, The Rutger's Review, The Livingston Medium, Grist-on-line, Images of God, In Vivo, Kudzu, So It Goes, Syzygy (Sis-si-Gee") & The Wicked. He has been a featured reader at The Squire Pub in NYC, The Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ, Java Market in So. Orange, NJ and Chapter One in Highland Park NJ.

KILLED SOME V.C.

(title from a line in my father's last letter home 12/4/64)

My father a week or so before his death,
"Killed some V.C."
A week later someone's father or brother or son
"Killed some GIs."

It's a strange dance
side to side
stepping over the line
thats drawn in our mind
between human and target,
Lover and killer.

Its a strange dance
stepping over a body
to find another to kill
getting a thrill
Writing home that your doing god's will.

He ended the letter stating his love
in series for his wife and children
but dying speaks louder
than words in an attic.

The wives and sons and daughters
dance alone at night
out of sight, or not at all anymore.
The movement reminding them they are alive
a target of pain.