Poem for the week, 4 December 2022
A rondeau for Ukraine
an entry for the Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2022
after ‘Take Heart’ by Bonnie Riedinger
and in homage to ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae
A Rorschach map that bleeds with yellow blood
drenches the flag where seeping borders could
turn poppies into blue, a weeping sky
inverted in distress; no norms apply
in murder harvested from brotherhood.
The sea and tears and gore mix in a flood
of fiery images by drones of mud,
all blurred, all smudged. You might as well tie-dye
a Rorschach map.
But clearing out the sulphur and the crud,
restored integrity can point to good,
a word the world’s forgotten in the lies
fed to us daily, blinding all our eyes.
Slava Ukraini. Show honesty withstood
a Rorschach map.
Those Footsteps Behind: around the world in 50 poems
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