Untitled
Sonnet Written on an Envelope While Standing in
Hollywood Cemetery - Richmond, Virginia
(11 November 1994)
First Prize Winner at 1995 Annual Writer's Conference
Published in Beacon, May 1995
Published in Beacon, June 2001
Copyright © 1994, 2004
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.
I stand in a hollow circle of crimson leaves
Swirling from behind a lonely broken tomb.
The reverert silence is shattered by a shrill bird
Whose single strident voice argues squatter's rights
With a crackly group of possessive graveyard crows.
A formation line of rich green holly trees salute me
As they march past white rows of numbered marker stones.
Their leafy banners wave in perfect form with feasting roots
Buried in the rotted corpses dressed in molding leather boots.
A single black cannon's muzzle points to the memorial zones
Marking this site of many forgotten battle bones.
"Here Rests Eighteen Thousand Confederate Dead, Known Only to God."
The sign deceives. Here are eighteen thousand gathered brothers
Known intimately also, to eighteen thousand grieving mothers.
Some Information About the Above Poem
Lucille and I went to Richmond on a "whim" November 11, 1994 on Veteran's Day and visited Hollywood Cemetery. (There are 18,000 Confederate dead bodies moved from Gettysburg the year after the battle.) No names, just numbers on small stone. This poem was my reaction - - no flags - - no notice, on Veteran's Day for these guys (average age 19).
Jason Lester Atkins, November 19, 1999.
Les Atkins Poetry Index Page
Send e-mail to Les Atkins