August 2014
I taught at San Lorenzo Middle School in King City, California for thirty-six years before retiring in June of 2006. Phyllis, my wife of 40 years, and I still reside in King City. I am a life-long rock-climber and mountaineer. I've made numerous ascents in the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite, though my home crags are in Pinnacles National Monument. Many of my climbing stories have been published over the years. One, Three's a Crowd, was produced as a radio play and broadcast on KUSF in 2006 and later made it onto PBS.
I'm an experienced Fantasy and SF writer. My novella Vienna Station won the Galaxy prize and was published as an e-book. It is available for Kindle on Amazon. I co-wrote The Man Who Murdered Mozart with Barry Malzberg a few years back. My fantasy novel Chaos Gate was published in 2011. You may have run across my Joel in Tananar, too. Most recently, Moonlight Mesa Associates published my Young Adult historical novel Dawn Drums. Please visit my website at: http://chaosgatebook.wordpress.com/
I'm an experienced Fantasy and SF writer. My novella Vienna Station won the Galaxy prize and was published as an e-book. It is available for Kindle on Amazon. I co-wrote The Man Who Murdered Mozart with Barry Malzberg a few years back. My fantasy novel Chaos Gate was published in 2011. You may have run across my Joel in Tananar, too. Most recently, Moonlight Mesa Associates published my Young Adult historical novel Dawn Drums. Please visit my website at: http://chaosgatebook.wordpress.com/
Dawn Drums
They march again to war,
Sniffling, shuffling, voices muffled,
Through dawn's uncertain door
Youth and man, rich and poor,
Through campfires' smothered smokes
They march again to war,
From college, farm and store
They carry loaded muskets
Through dawn's uncertain door
Damp drums tapping, four by four,
Meadow mists like ghosts ahead,
They march again to war
Black cannon mouths, fresh gore,
Shattered limbs and death await
Through dawn's uncertain door
Flags yet furled
And bayonets sheathed,
They march again to war
Through dawn's uncertain door
Editor's note: Robert's acclaimed novel about the Civil War, Dawn Drums, is for sale on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Drums-Robert-Walton/dp/1938628152/ref=tmm_pap_title_0. There is a special website for teachers and librarians at http://dawndrums.wordpress.com/ and a review of Dawn Drums at
http://www.civilwarsoldier.com/civil-war-novel-dawn-drums-a-brilliant-read.htm
First Parting
When the last candles smoldered on the funeral eve,
And no echo of condolence rippled midnight silence,
I rose in scented darkness and took my leave.
December met me at the church’s door and raised my eyes
To nebulae shining where ends precede beginnings,
To myriad galaxies’ solemn surprise -
Slender arms of azure light offering grace,
Charming me, coaxing me, enfolding me with,
Not drear solace, but star-frosted embrace,
An unspoken message from the deeps of time
To lift my grief and sketch final symmetry -
That death is not love’s end but merely its rhyme.
Flames,
Flickering, flaring
Between black pines'
Sawtooth shadows
Drew me.
Firelight,
Always brightest
After midnight,
Filled an empty circle,
For no faces
Leaned in,
No smiles shimmered
Like glass ornaments.
Stars,
Not eyes,
Gleamed upon a last
Sapphire breath
Of embers.
Only silence,
Deep as mountains,
Huddled close.
Above Parker Lake
Snowmelt waterfall
Bursting bright,
Crystal tresses flung
Across ebon cliffs -
Impatient girl
With all of time
To brush your hair
But none to spare
This morning.
Dawn Snow,
A long gown falling
From ridgeline shoulders,
Brushes branches
Jeweled with ice.
Deer steps beneath pines
Tremble
At the edge of silence.
Light blooms
On cliffs above,
Not orange,
Not gold,
But offering a new day,
More than the sum
Of its parts.
Credits: Flames was recognized by the Georgia Poetry Society in its annual contest. Above Parker Lake was originally published in Avocet, and Dawn Snow was published both in Avocet and on Your Daily Poem.
©2014 Robert Walton