1
death, a quilt of strange perception,
fascinates the soldier in us all
2
elephants and chariots
sweep across the empty map;
trumpets thrill the blood –
fog gives way as sunlight glances,
singing out discovery
with melodies of armour
baggage trains, blind as worms,
hug the muddy rear –
dust-clothed strangers, families,
squalling children, prostitutes,
delightful loot and, always,
servants mending fading flags
shoring up the glory
of the arrow and the spear
and everywhere
the stench of unwashed men –
fodder, just ignored,
pointless chapters in the plot,
useless to the poetry of
wax and waning empires –
endless lives
seamlessly erased
3
against all sense,
the sun appears to
creep around the earth,
tethered like a vast balloon:
blind hands on the braille of empire
before each brief defeat
native eyes absorb the redcoats,
lined to load and load again –
another plague
deployed to clear a path,
a wave to clean the cluttered beach,
a joke to thumb the nose
at old beliefs
they never sway,
these roses in the smoke and flash
where metal balls are blown like kisses
mouth to hand
then through the heart
and all the fallen call for mother,
all the gains are given back
4
between the breath of battle
and the cool release of peace,
janus tricks the weakest man
to mumble out of turn,
draw the shortest straw –
the only straw –
and dig latrines
lucky man behind the lines
5
across the plains,
unharvested,
the scheming yellow crop outsmarts the sun –
sliding round the flesh of tanks
as woman on a man
anticipating fullness and eclipse
helplessly
the mind inhales the beauty,
shivers in the tension
then surrenders, through that pause,
to the shell that comes to welcome it
to memory –
lives thrown up like soft spaghetti
fall to crease upon the earth
as slipshod love, ruined fate
or broken threads of luck
burning lovers
borne upon the faintest breeze
a plume of thinning smoke –
warm air scientific
or the passing of a soul
6
somewhere in the war between
the word and its echo,
truth and a belief,
nature and the wish,
a butterfly
settles on the summer’s palm
flexing wings like psalms of adoration
but, always, moths come grunting:
dreadful drones,
fearsome night’s ambassadors
attacking with the light behind
like helicopter gunships
gruesome in their beauty
7
after nightmares
sudden laughter cracks the lips
savouring the hurricane,
the winning bet,
the passion of release,
for, with the tide of victory,
armies crumble into men –
ordinary; harmless puddles;
parts of onward flow:
mules to pack with memories
and, in the end,
to fill the dog-eared pages
with their boredom
8
men walk upon the moon
with heavy boots and lightest tread –
knuckles straining, elbows straight,
hands outstretched to mark the dance card,
waltz romantic with the stars –
infinity
etched upon their gleaming masks,
expressionless
nuzzling cheek-to-cheek against the
undiscovered future,
they gaze against its depths,
pat the touchstone: ‘tried and true’
and fill their cartographic pens
with novelties: upgrades on the rock
that cracks the skull
9
war fascinates:
enhancing, as it does,
each life, through death –
each single bright oasis
Author notes
Contest prompt: Canto
A contest entry
- Write me a Canto by Cannonsfire.
2000 points, ended September 8, 2008, 6 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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This is a word-feast and I am deliriously full. Everything comes alive with your vivid imagery....smells, tastes, sounds, colours. I caught myself covering my nose over the second section. I get drug down and then brought back up by lines like
"after nightmares
sudden laughter cracks the lips
savouring the hurricane,..."
A full emotional experience. An epic kind of poem.
Very well done,
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Wow. It's almost overwhelming in its layers of images and metaphor. I think I found some allusions in there to Kerouac. A very good read. One I will have to return to, because I am sure this takes more than one read to fully appreciate.
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this is actually one of the best things I've read in quite a while.
just ignored,
pointless chapters in the plot,
useless to the poetry of
wax and waning empires –
endless lives
seamlessly erased
that part, in particular, blew my mind.
thank you. -
the life is revealed through the meaning of the truths....I love it..well done..and thanks for sharing it...
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This seems really deep. It seems like you put some time and effort into writing this. It's very nicely done and I like the imagery. Keep it up!
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totally cool!
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HMMM
Well, I can say that I have learned a new poetic term this morning, canto. I didn't even know the meaning of the term, so I looked it up! This is a superb piece of poetic royalty. Brilliant vocabulary, and chock full of to die for imagery. I really wish you all the luck in the contest!!!!!!! Glad I'm not having to judge!!! lol
POETDONTKNOWIT
WRITING IT HER OWN WAY
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I don't think I have ever read a canto before. this was a very interesting thing to read. Good write and a good job with the word usage. thanks for sharing
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Amazing!!!!!!
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a little bit over my head
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Superb plus
A most excellent write which was very well written, indeed. Thanks for sharing this one with us. Again, well done. I think you might like my poem: "Blues of Night". A link in a moment. -
This was amazing; it was raw and real, and packed enough imagery to burn the scene you saw into every readers' retina. The story was incredible, and every inch of satiric disturbia was done so tastefully that one was addicted to the lines until the very last, regardless of how long it was. Thank for sharing this with us, and think you have mastered this form. I particularly liked the stilited meter with the short lines. I hope to read more form you soon.
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Wow as ever, packed with imagery and metaphor to both hook and engage the reader. You've evidently worked this form through and produced another very impressive piece. Good luck in your contest, thanks for sharing.
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well done
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Brilliantly done, the story, the layout and the thoughts and metaphor in each and every Canto. Loved finding this here. Love, C
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The ending lines..."War facinates" intersting ending here my friend. The blooded battlefields, the countless soldiers that died. Some who's names will never be repeated in the history books for sure. But in all, war brings a cost to all, and that is freedom. Sadly though, sometimes in a pointless war. That so many must die. ~Sie
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