for Daniel Setzer
from one end of the bridge to the other
the charred bodies stacked like wood
smoking as the cinders fell away
and the horse standing under the struts
its head and flanks above deep water
the brown the black of sightless eyes
no wagon could cross unless a man pulled it
for the horses that were still alive
took fright at the dead and shrieked
rearing hooves which seemed to pound
at the rooftops and the clouds
rising from the blasted earth
that night after the bombardment
the city was set ablaze and shadows
of men were seen in the burning windows
and on the far hill beyond the gate
their jagged arms stretched out against the slopes
shrouding the ruby needles of the pines
June 21, 1988
by Eric Basso
From CATAFALQUES, Leaping Dog Press (Aug 1999).
Eric Basso was born in Baltimore in 1947. His work has appeared in the Chicago Review, Central Park, Collages & Bricolages, Fiction International, Exquisite Corpse, and many other publications. His most recent books are Decompositions: Essays on Art & Literature 1973-1989 and Revagations: A Book of Dreams 1966-1974 (Asylum Arts Press). Six Gallery Press published Earthworks, his seventh collection of poems, last year.
This is a cool poem, I like it when I find poems with bite to them.
ReplyDeleteI think the Eric Basso and the Steven Nash works are the strongest here because they stay so potently in the mind after reading.
Some great stuff here Roxanne