Bobby’s Wish

Robert E Lee, encased these long years
in bronze

hat a plop spot for pigeons, thinks
of the dead men

once under his command, worn down
and hungry, sick

of war and death, creeping home
through the trees

to the strains of tenting tonight,
hearts broken

Sorrow has trumped hate in his own encased
limbs, given this time to think

Yet, another battle has begun
with him and his old comrades

He wants to urge his horse forward,
wave a white flag

stop the racist words
he once held as true

but his horse won’t move
His arms won’t move

His muted cries are absorbed
by the raging air

Someone has died.
Even the pigeons have fled

He’s falling backwards
Perhaps mother’s arms will be waiting

The poems of Pris Campbell have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including PoetsArtists, Rusty Truck, Bicycle Review, Chiron Review, and Outlaw Poetry Network. The Small Press has published eight collections of her poetry and Clemson University Press a collaboration with Scott Owens. When The Wolves Come After You, with Michael Parker, from Goss Publications and Squalls on the Horizon, a book of tanka, from Nixes Mate and My Southern Childhood are her most recent small press books. A former Clinical Psychologist, sailor and bicyclist until sidelined by ME/CFS in 1990, she makes her home in the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband.