THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO


THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO


They still raft across
this fine old canal
this little sister river
running parallel to
the proud old Potomac

dividing
Maryland from Virginia
North from South
twang from drawl
blue blood from blue grass
The United States from
These United States

freedom from slavery
union from liberty
Harriet Beecher Stowe
from Harriet Tubman
railroad tycoon from
underground railroad

corporation from plantation
wage slave from
African slave
Dred Scott from
the Dred Scott decision

Yankee from Johnny Reb
Stars and Stripes
from Stars and Bars
memories of lost brothers
from memories of brothers lost

in the fresh
chilly current of
the Great Sad War

My back hurts
my pack never settling
against it quite right
my feet no longer used to
carrying it over miles of
pebbles and exposed roots
my constitution weak with
the remnants of illness

I take frequent breaks
sit and stare blankly
at running water
and falling leaves
my third eye swollen
with century old tears

For I still see them rafting
across this fine old canal
soldiers slipping along
shorelines that once
hauled barges laden with
quality Appalachian coal

ghosts as silent in death
as once silent by necessity
on commando raids against
friends neighbors cousins
customers suppliers partners
traders turned traitors

sneaking up with bayonets
and muffled paddles upon
one another's dreams
of nationhood

Trying to make out
their faces is like
trying to catch sight
of a slice of wind

seeing only wisps of
buttons and buckles
wooden rifle stocks
moth-eaten uniforms
cobwebbed ammunition belts
winking in and out of
a blue and gray rivermist

on a warm autumn afternoon
when I shouldn't be
seeing any mist at all

No generals seem to
haunt this place
no Longstreet Grant
Sheridan McClellan Lee
strolling the banks
mourning the bloody
price of a glory that
none of them could
ever quite live down

no Stone Wall raised to
mark this foot soldiers'
mausoleum of picnic tables
and green trees

just a slow-flowing tombstone
marking Ohio apple growers
Virginia fishermen
Kansas dirt farmers
New York stevedores

a black cotton picker
braving moonless nights
and heartless nightriders
to swim the River Jordan

and return with a rifle
and a dark blue jacket
and burning memories of
Old Testament prophets
and older African Gods
to set free the family
he left behind

a white good ol' boy
who was never told half of
what he was expected to go
and get himself killed for
by righteous old men who
exempted their own sons
from the draft

who carries perfumed
letters from home in
the pocket over his heart
like a breastplate against
shrapnel and miniball

and on every last
luckless pair of lips
a word echoes out past
the end of all battles

Mama
Mary
Luann
Mrs. Brown
Desiree
Katie Jo
lover
darling
good-bye

Thus I hike the northern bank of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
eastward to Harper's Ferry
until I cross Harper's Bridge
seeking peace of body and soul

finding only armies of
battered old souls
with names forgotten
to time and tide
still fighting
still dying to reach
the farther shore
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