New Poem by Martha Deed

photo by Martha Deed

May 9th at 12:50 PM

On the hill beside me there was a crowd of civilians on horseback, and in all sorts of vehicles, with a few of the fairer, if not gentler sex .... The spectators were all excited, and a lady with an opera glass who was near me was quite beside herself when an unusually heavy discharge roused the current of her blood — "That is splendid, Oh my! Is not that first rate? I guess we will be in Richmond to-morrow." ‒ London Times correspondent William Howard Russell

(http://www.civilwar.org/hallowed-ground-magazine/spring-2011/spectators-witness-history-at.html)

Oh!

It's War I say

the Turkey Vulture's shadow passing across the battlefield no menace

to the House Sparrow that gained the half-built nestbox nest

grasses gathered and brought to bear for a few days but not one

used to block the door and so

the House Sparrow returned

once inside

it cannot leave

and there is a crying and shaking of elderberry branches

The House Wrens attack, parry, retreat

attack attack

A Chickadee and Cardinal fly in.  They perch on nearby branches

like elegant city people who watched Civil War battles from nearby hillsides

their picnic baskets outspread on blankets under trees

looking to see for themselves how the fight was going
yet not close enough to see that these are battles to the death

                                       — Martha Deed