by: Willow Kang
‘Leonard Siffleet was a young Allied soldier who fought in world war 2 as an Australian Special Forces soldier. His post was in Aitape, New Guinea, where he was captured by Japanese soldiers, and subsequently beheaded. Siffleet left behind a fiance, Clarice Lane. His beheading was photographed by a Japanese soldier, and till this day, remains as one of the most shocking images taken in World War 2.’
Linoleum rice, satin jackpots
What you wish for, Vegas will fill
I call the hands, Siffleet's on the table
Leonard is as young as formaldehyde would allow,
his passion a sword, severing heads
with hands of jacaranda flowers
Aitape is a recurring nightmare, a vision of the fountains
The villagers tell tales about the Kempeitai's cottages,
about the restless youths playing inside at midnig\ht
I tell irrelevant tales to dead things, tree things
picnics on pastures cursed by Cassandra, gossiping beheadings
The genie is here, and I can be the villain if I wanted to,
splurging wishes to disturb restful sleepers, rousing them
to violent haunts, resentful radio static,
gullible memorandums from New Guinea