Special Feature: "Flatland: Variations on a Ballad, Part II" by the Editor

Flatland:  Variations on a Ballad

Steven Wittenberg Gordon

II

Mountain tall and cold

dressed in winter snow,

I stand on you and feel your wind.

My eagle’s scream echoes

through the icy air

that surrounds your craggy peaks.

I am a wolf-were

though with an eagle’s beak.

With grizzly bear arms I hug you.

Roots spring out of my feet.

My blood flows deep and swiftly through

my body, warming it.

But I dream.  I dwell upon a plain--

A plain plane--

A vast flat bed of blades

stabs at my soul.  My spirit fades.

Poet's Notes:  Compared to Part I, Part II trades hard end-line rhymes for consonance.  Still a ballad, but just a bit less traditional, more modern.