Issue 16 : June 6, 2002
Shiloh Military Park National Cemetery
I stand on the brick path above Pittsburg Landing
my idiotic baseball cap stuck in my back pocket
looking at the white stones creamy white stones
arranged in straight lines and curved lines on the grass
Grey squirrel incapable of marching
leaps over a taller cube head stone
Earlier I watched the blue black shine of the crows
in the heat of the open Peach Orchard
where the bullets shredded the blossoms
filled the air with warm snow
Under this white spattered green blanket the dead sleep
I reach down and touch the warm grass
They are like the teeth
fallen out of an old giant's mouth
who once was angry once roared once cried
- William J. Gibson -
Images & text copyright
© William Joseph Gibson 2002
bluetyger is Made in Canada
This poem first appeared in
Grosse Īle and Other Poems
by William J. Gibson
Copyright © William Joseph Gibson 1998
Alburnum Press
Victoria Harbour & Callander, Ontario
Blue Tyger Series #2
First Printing: April 1998
Alburnum Press - Book Orders
P.O. Box 485 - Victoria Harbour, Ontario
Canada LOK 2A0