Monday 11th May ...and tonight, Captain Bonnycastle in command of our two Companies received orders from the General to move forward at once and join the main body.
Family - I write one last letter
after my gear is packed.
At first light
we march towards the battle
we've listened to
three days, steady.
This is why I came.
I'm more than ready.
***
Shooting Stones and Nails
At Tourond's Coulee, we left
when it seemed time.
Too cold, wet, hungry
Started missing shots,
if bullets ran low: we'd go.
But we are dug in at Batoche
Twice they've tried to circle us around
Our families are nearby, hiding underground.
Now if we run out, we run away.
Riel's
miracle of Batoche:
if we live to see another day.
* * *
A mother
The hungry darkness,
close smell of earth.
Wounded join us: we
rarely use our candles
but for their care.
And the children after three days
all eyes become accustomed:
day and night the same color,
symphony of dirt-muffled guns
their lullaby.
Of the fearsome Gatling Gun,
the victim is but one.
Besides the priest's leg,
Jose's little son.
He was inside the house when it began.
Today Middleton's men
came as far as the cemetary: so close.
Then they turned back. I hope the ghosts
of our small village whispered in their ear.
Gave them more than our dying men and emptying guns to fear.
2 comments:
i'm still really enjoying these poems. you tell a good story in a few short lines! two suggestions. first, in the second poem i would take out all the "too"s after the first one - "Too cold, wet, hungry," sounds more desperate for some reason.
second, in poem #3, "a new normal" doesn't seem to fit with the time period you are writing in. can you find another, more descriptive way to convey this?
Thanks I made those changes plus one other...great feedback Rebecca! Appreciated.
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