This poem, two soldiers, is from a small book of 9 poems & images I wrote & published titled, the witch’s feet. The images are collages created from a child’s finger paintings. I did not add any of my own marks, I simply ripped them up and reassembled the torn pieces into new images. This was one of my favorite creative projects.
two soldiers
now these two soldiers were in love
they felt like one soldier
even though they were two
they had yellow hair
and blue uniforms
and black belts cinching
their slim boy waists
during the war they didn’t tell anyone
about their love–of course!
they didn’t want to die for love
they wanted to live and love another day
and when the war was over
they lived together and tried to love
but one of them dreamed in black
even in daytime there were
black branches over his head
the one who loved him so, said
please my dear
take refuge with me
crawl inside our uniform
its as blue as the sea
as blue as my eyes
but his dark love
saw blue and wanted to drown
saw red skies at sunset
and thought–fields of blood!
springy spongy fields
of torn and rotting flesh
always crunching
crunching with bones