4 November 1943
Where are your high-minded principles now you fearless daughters
you hotheaded sons? Where is your courage in the face
of the faceless? Our peaceful days have slipped away. All that snap
and bravado those high-heeled shoes open-mouthed
kisses in the shadow of the Astronomical Clock battle cries thick
as cream. That time is gone. We stand now beneath an ashen sky.
Tell me this: Did you tremble as the four horsemen put pen to paper?
Did the sun halt its cartwheeling across that swatch of blue?
When we gasp our final breaths will the Vltava weep as it passes our broken
bones? Or will our only legacy be cradles lined with shorn curls?
Pamela R. Anderson (Pam) is Director of Philanthropic Giving at Kent State University’s public radio station, WKSU-FM. She is a graduate of Hiram College (BA in communications and writing) and Kent State University (MA in English literature) and currently is a master’s candidate in the NEOMFA program with a concentration in poetry. Her poem, “My Brother’s Coat: January 1943″ was recently recognized as a winner in The Association of Writers & Writing Programs Intro Journals Project and will be published in Controlled Burn. Other poems, book reviews, and articles have appeared in the Barn Owl Review, Whiskey Island Press, Hobble Creek Review, Epitome, Penguin Review and elsewhere.
Causeway Lit 