to the discordant drum of cannon-fire
and the fife of air-raid sirens,
skeleton martinets march
fresh from the farms and tenements
wielding tanks and bayonets...
right, left, right, left
grand, valiant, bloody, bereft,
England, France, England,
acts of "revolution" then "sedition,"
Germany, Germany and the Japs
then Russia perhaps...
right, left, right in the cold
to Moscow and back
on the path to Baghdad, Iraq
right, left, right, left
grand, valiant, bloody, bereft...
Mars-ward incense fumes
in the deterrent age of mushrooms
medals hanging from Athenian spinal columns
leader-guided clavicles
equipped and brave
and cleanly shaved
neat salutes over vacant sockets,
hoary digits wrapped around black steel,
like ancient Romans in war's trance,
or Napoleon's lines in defense of France
(like painted tin toys in a dark romance,)
heading for explosive embrace
skeletons marching in place
Comments
Highhat | November 27, 2011 - 08:33
Peace!
london_calling79 | November 27, 2011 - 11:09
Great images and clavicles is one of my favourite words ever! I am bones obsessed.
scratch | November 27, 2011 - 14:02
This is really excellent seannelson. The development and the use of imagery and the 'mouthfeel' coupled together to grab and not let go. It's just my cup of tea. If this isn't picked then we should all go to war, or at least start a revolution!
Blessing | November 27, 2011 - 16:33
..."neat salutes over vacant sockets" behind which hidden volumes I have no doubt. That went hand in hand with repetitive "grand, valiant, bloody, bereft ..." So much in that too. Captured so much here.
MaliciousMudkip | November 27, 2011 - 20:38
I love this, absolutely fantastic. Congratulations on a well deserved cherry.
seannelson | November 27, 2011 - 20:41
thank you all kindly <]:- )
seannelson | November 28, 2011 - 17:48
Thanks blighters. But you know, this isn't really a political or a peace poem: it's a poem. That said: I am familiar with the industrial insanity of so much modern warfare. And I'm not a hawk, especially since I'm in some ways more than ambivalent about my own country and whatever progress we're supposedly bringing to places like Iraq. What's happening in February?
scratch | November 28, 2011 - 19:52
Bring it on.
Richard L. Prov... | December 4, 2011 - 03:35
"Hoary digits wrapped around black steel" is the type of powerful phrase I enjoyed in this poem. Great work. Richard LP