Best Antietam Poems

Alone I arrive, walking from Frederick
over the gaps, across gentle hills
out onto a knoll
overlooking this burnished landscape.
Before me I see countless writhing rows
of indiscernible shapes gathered
in terrible rituals mid fire and smoke
darkening the sun.
From distant corners I hear
the rhythmic thud of cannon,
and from fields astir...

Continue reading...

Antietam

I lay in the creek my face to the ground
My hand on my musket, I pray I’m not found
The bullets were flying, the soldiers were dying
Antietam; the battle’s begun

I fired on the troops as they crossed Burnside Bridge
Safely encamped up high on the ridge 
The...

Continue reading...

Antietam Creek, Maryland

Antietam was fought on Maryland ground
at the foothills of Appalachia.
There McClellan, Lee and Jackson were found
with troops from Potomac and Virginia.

McClellan shrewdly, saved some of his men,
while Lee sent the entire army forward.
Does blood cry out as the withered grass bends?
Should they be...

Continue reading...

Silent, dawn crept low and solemn
Over the Virginia valley
The misty orange haze of a pale sunrise
Cloaking the farmer's field

Blue and Gray, mixed with red
Life fleeing with each labored breath,
Stillness broken only by 
The rattle of death's leave

Mother Earth sorrowfully accepts
The pain, the regret, the wastefulness.
Generations...

Continue reading...