Positively Medieval

A short piece, written many years ago, after watching one too many movies about epic battles between good and evil in fantastical worlds.  The poem imagines a different ending, with different heroes.  From the collection, Feather and Leaf. 

Cinéma Vérité 

in today’s epic cinema

we are led to believe

that the heroes and

great warriors of our age

after the bloody battles

and seemingly hopeless

struggles against evil

against insurmountable

darkness and odds

come to the end of the journey victorious

and are carried away

on gray ships with billowy white sails

to distant shores

but it is not true

i have seen it

no sooner do the ships

leave the harbor than the sea

begins to stir

first an icy wind from the north

then flashes of cold lightning

then sheets of rain and swirling gales

then rips of canvas

and the splintering

of masts and beams

and the crash of anchors

loosed from chains

until all is a spiraling hurricane

where ocean and air are one

where monstrous waves

like horrible black mountains

crash upon decks

sundering timbers and limbs

a few of the heroes

and great warriors

float back with the bloated tide

to the sandy beaches of the harbor

painted with bits

of seaweed and debris

like babies born again from the sea

their minds washed clean

of memory and valor

most of the rest

sink forever

to still depths

of unfathomable dark

clinging to a memory of the light

only one or two

we can hope

cleansed by the bitter salt

baptized by the rolling water

remember the strength of their arms

and open their eyes

and begin to swim