Smithereens Press Chapbooks Taking the Oath by Tom French | Page 19

Rose Lee’s ‘Union Jack’

Is she making a flag
for the war dead to raise
maimed limbs to foreheads
to salute, assembling like a negative or replica,
in the form of a flag of war
left out on the green for years
for the sun to bleach,
piece by piece - bolster
cases, bedspreads, sheets,
tablecloths she steps the breadth
of in her bare feet?
It is as if somebody has
deliberately admitted snow.
It mirrors the ceiling,
blankets the bare boards,
and covers the floor
from window to window.
It is an indoor field
and Rose Lee is gleaning

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