The Dead
The Confederate dead are
marching in a loose formation,
dressed in grey uniforms-now-
rags, filthy bandaging for often
fatal wounds wrapped loosely
about areas afflicted, their faces
covered by death masks, not
actual-impressions-taken, but
the store-bought kind made
from rubber, something children
might wear on All Hallows Eve
questing treats, though what
these men are doing has nothing
to do with treats but may have
something in common with what
happens on All Hallows Eve.
Southern Gothic: A Romance for Ambrose Bierce:
Memento Mori
Family crypts recede amid
unrestricted growth, rampant
spread of moss and vine, rich
loam, prickly brush: names,
places, dates overgrown, erased,
unreadable, unread; left behind,
a new in memoriam: dolls' heads
without torsos, bottles with mostly
melted black candles, a scuffed
soccer ball partially deflated,
a cheap child's Halloween mask
affixed to a forced-upright tree limb
and a limp, empty costume pinned
to this burial mound place, a metal
stake thrust through its heart.
Alan Catlin has published dozens of chapbooks and full length books. Among those are Portrait of the Artist Afraid of His Self-Portrait and Asylum Garden: after Van Gogh.
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