March 2019
I am a poet and songwriter living in Oakland, California, with my wife and son. I graduated with an M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and have published previously in The Santa Clara Review, The Pangolin Review, Ink in Thirds, and other journals.
CAPITULATION
They wanted to be captured,
those soldiers on the hill,
no longer knowing whether
grass was green,
sky was blue,
blood was grey,
or who was fighting whom
(or was it whom
fighting who?)
They laid their rifles down,
those soldiers on the hill,
and searched in stony pastures
for someone they could
surrender to —
but all they found was one white cow,
contemplating clouds and trees
with each unhurried chew
They sat down in a circle,
those soldiers from the hill,
enraptured to be captured
by this simple god
whose mind was blue,
whose teeth were green,
whose eyes reflected
deep impersonal regard
for every blade that grew.
Editor's Note: Please send (only positive) comments to the author (see email address in above). Correspondence is the beginning of community in our virtual village. It is very important. I love to read your comments and would appreciate it if you cc me: [ff@verse-virtual.org]. Thanks. -FF
© 2019 Scott Waters