I saw my mother dying
Can recognize when someone is about to give up life
“That’s life” an old woman says at the library when the copy machine won’t copy
“That’s death” I say to myself
in between is limbo
Her strong bones frail now
meds keep her under
she wants more
skin pocked with injections
she doesn’t want to know me
what’s the point
she is dying
it can happen to anyone
at anytime
you don’t have to be old to die
Protected
this stronghold only one entrance
Chochise guarded his people
against the enemy
Creek running through
dried venison plants cactus flour
fit for survival and escape
over the ridge into the mountains
US military made peace
gave Chochise his stronghold
as a reservation and let him be
to live out his days
Chochise died and buried there
wrapped in a red blanket
vermillon design on his face
he rode for the last time
Up the ragged wall of the hold
on his horse while being held up
by his beloved followers
to a place high on the ridge
Procession of his final journey
horse and dog and rifles
all dropped deep into a gorge
Chochise’s great warrior burial
Father leader friend peacemaker
lowered into that same gorge
buried into the heart chasm
of his homeland
_
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NaPoWriMo prompt – how to poem
Chochise Stronghold is in the state of Arizona
Roman soldiers
conquest was what they knew
carried shovels and sword
dug deep roads
into Europe and Mideast
conquering as they go
pay your tax
we’ll leave you alone
if you rebel
we will annihilate
you
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NaPoWriMo prompt on evil with some good in it
Dreadful corpses
Cease breath and flesh
No miracles today
Just anger
Perplexed
Dead bones
People pass all day
And wander
Day 13 prompt from Toads and a news flash of strike on Syria ten minutes ago
Civil War sisters
stayed on the farm
baled the hay
plucked the geese
found meadowlark eggs
when bringing home the cows
Brothers went to war
carried a musket
lived in a trench
wounded
amputated
but lived to tell
Sisters and brothers
halves and wholes
swore by the candlelight
there would be slaves no more
