Monday, July 18, 2011

Spacing matters

               Wars, Pain and
                                                Peace…?
                      A poem by C. S. B.


I bite my teeth hard
                                                                One to another.


Almost ten feet away
                                                                I see my brother.


The one who lost
                                                                everything,
                                                                               

The only memory,
                                                                His  ring.

I will never forget
                                                                that  moment

When I found him  
                                                                Silent

As  the smoke disappeared        
                                                                In ire

He looked down
                                                               
                                At his family

                                                                Vanished in fire.


My friend wrote this poem as an assignment about a Confederate solider and seeing the pain in the war.  I really like Richard Wilbur's poems Lilacs and Junk because the spacing is so interesting and you can read them across and in columns.
I can read those poems again and again, and I get re-baffled every time.  I like that.

Anyway, we started playing with the spacing of this poem. This is what she came up with.  Some people are great without trying - she is one of those.  I've heard this quote several times, and I like it. 
"You can't put in what God left out." - Eric Liddle
Some people are just poetry seepers. I admire that.


2 comments:

Trisha said...

Your friend did a wonderful job!

Anonymous said...

Gripping poem. Thanks for sharing.