Where No Monument Stands

I spent the evening in a beautiful old church enjoying a folk concert. The headliner was John Gorka - who I had never heard before. During his second song I had a bit of a Gordon Lightfoot flashback ... I swear I cold hear Gord singing "The Wreck of the Edumnd Fitzgerald" off in the distance. By the third song, Gordon was gone and it was all John. He is rather quirky in person but if you close your eyes and listen to the music - you can't help but be moved.




At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border
(from poetry180)
William Stafford

This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed — or were killed — on this ground
hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.