The Tecate wars raged on
whether
we noticed or not
it wasn't even a story in the media hardly anymore
but then there would be an
article
and we would remember
oh yeah
that shit is still going on

Down on the Biloxi coast
the water was still bath temperature

in New England covered bridges were
bathed in leaves red orange and yellow
burnished with the decay of Fall

near a hand built stone wall in Vermont
a poet not related to Robert Frost
would be drinking his first Tecate
and wondering
about the significance

in the hills of Appalachia
a malnourished young girl would
order from the brightly lit menu at
KFC
but not Tecate

yes the wars continued mostly out of sight
and out of mind
somewhere back behind the front
behind the eastern seaboard
echoing in a digital guitar echo pedal
the plans were still being carried out
booby traps were still being set
MRE 's were tossed into lakes unopened
Hershey bars were traded for nugs of the
finest kine bud
it was every day type of school bus
harrassment that
caused several Nicaraguans
to wonder wtf these assholes are talking about

The General would not take notice or
be swayed from the trajectory of Victory

He unbuttoned the top button of his uniform and
studied the maps spread out before him