WORLD HISTORY

A jagged end of bone drips

blood; that pink piece of

intestine hangs from a nearby

bush; the hand over there

is the one he raised to superiors

when they came with orders

“move ahead.”

Blue eyes sparkle at the memory

of her until they fade behind the

rime that blinds, they did not

have time to know what was

in that flash of light.

They said to move ahead.

And he did. All the way to

the end. And, in the end,

it makes no difference

at all.

Reviews

[Kane Hagwood]

To me, I've always found it baffling how we could needlessly send someone to die. No matter what political spectrum you engage with, no matter the morality compass which may guide you, I fail to understand needless conflict, where those in charge just stand by, treating people like pawns in chess. But that in itself is a whole can of worms.

The one grammatical thing that jumped out at me for a second was the line "When thy came with orders." I knew what it was supposed to say, and other than that it really didn't take away the full effect the poem held.

Nicely written, and I look forward to more of your work.

[Vol]

Kane
The very idea of war is unfathomable,
And thanks for the heads up...
Vol

[John the Baptist]

I may be reading something into this one, but the last two lines have a Robert Frost sound to them. Also, "the rime that blinds" makes me think of an old hymn. Not sure how or if these two figure into the poem, which has a Little Bighorn sound to it.

[Vol]

John,
It is the nebulous sparkle of poetry that makes it so valuable. Every encounter with a poem is different from every other one. Who I am when I write a poem is not the same as the me who reads it a week later. I used to explain to my students that I chose Literature because I hate being wrong. If I ask you to analyze a poem or any other bit of Lit. or any other art, and you do, who am I to say NO!? If it shoots you in the eye this time, it may shoot you in the guts next time. Every time I return to a Dali painting, it changes me a different way... it's ART!
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

up close and personal look at the damage done by war...the atrocities abound.
gruesome imagery here, but very, very real.
j.

[Vol]

Jacob,
It is a tiny, meaningless commentary addressing the tiny, anonymous death of just one guy among all the others. We are inured to all of man's inhumanity to man, because it abounds beyond our ability to respond any other way than to cower in some hidden niche, and pray they never find us...
Right now, it appears we are closer to a nuclear holocaust than we have been since 1960. personally, there is so much insanity at the highest levels of world governments around the globe, I expect it to happen.
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

no one death is less meaningless than another.
Yes, such insanity.

[Stu. T.H.]

It's a pity to see a good soldier die, but it's always disheartening to see those who were once lively beings become inanimated.
A painfully well-written work, author Vol.

[Vol]

Stu,
This was an experiment in imagery, Most of my poems are lyric and rely on imagery. I wanted to see if I could create an effective picture while knowing I've never seen the horrors in this poem. I was draftable during the Viet Nam war, I was never called up. People like me have no real idea how awful it is. I did work nights in ER and saw my share of blood buts and gore, and bad as that was, it was qualitatively much different.
Vol