{"id":2232,"date":"2014-04-05T22:52:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T22:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=2232"},"modified":"2015-04-09T17:44:59","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T17:44:59","slug":"spring-rituals-poem-steve-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/spring-rituals-poem-steve-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"SPRING RITUALS. Poem. Steve de France."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dogs baying, howling. Men in a jeep.
\nDrinking beer. Pointing guns.
\nShrubs cracking under wheels.
\nI’d seen them earlier today. Sitting in
\ntheir jeep. Shooting squirrels out of
\ntrees. Blew ’em all apart. But I ran
\ntill the forest was quiet.<\/p>\n

Resting here beside a clump of dead
\nbranches I hear dogs baying. They’ve
\nfound me. They’re close. I hear shells
\nrattling into rifle breaches, bolts
\njamming shells into firing position.
\nI’m running again.
\nBehind me a bolt slams down,
\nthe popping crack of a gun,
\nthe side of the tree next to me explodes.<\/p>\n

I run hard.
\nRun with all my strength.
\nI leap over my trail & crash into
\ntree cover. But the jeep is rattling,
\njerking itself through underbrush behind
\nme.<\/p>\n

When I hit the stream
\nthe coldness of water tears breath from
\nme. I stop for a second to regain
\ndirection. A 30 bore bullet smashes my
\nflank, it’s like being clipped by a
\ntruck. I’m down, then up and running.
\nOver there,
\nI see my fields golden in the sunset,
\nit’s my spot. I have to try for it.
\nWildly with total concentration,
\nI run
\nOver bushes, brush past trees, knock
\nbranches down, in my thirst to escape.
\nI’m moving now. Flying over earth,
\nmy mind afire with the pain in my flank.
\nNow breathing coming hard.
\nWhat’s this? A strange taste.
\nChoking. Blood in my throat.
\nThe ground rushes toward me.
\nSomething going down.
\nI’m on the ground.
\nBreathing blood & foam from my mouth.
\nMore burning, body going numb.
\nlaughter.<\/p>\n

Try to get up. Can’t.<\/p>\n

Someone standing next to me.
\nA boot rolls my head over.
\nDidja hit em?
\nTwice.
\nDead?
\nYeah, deader ‘an hell.<\/p>\n

He didn’t hit me. He couldn’t have.
\nNo.
\nI’m still running, still alive.
\nI see my spot now.
\nIt’s here. Tall grass. That good smell.
\nSo tall.
\nAll the way up to my shoulders.
\nBut I don’t remember it being
\nso dark.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"little<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve De France is a widely published poet, playwright and essayist both in
\nAmerica and in Great Britain. His work has appeared in literary
\npublications in America, England, Canada, France, Ireland, Wales,
\nScotland, India, Australia, and New Zealand. He has been nominated for a
\nPushcart Prize in Poetry in both 2002, 2003 & 2006. Recently, his
\nwork has appeared in The Wallace Stevens Journal, The Mid-American
\nPoetry Review, Ambit, Atlantic, Clean Sheets, Poetry Bay, The Yellow
\nMedicine Review and The Sun. In England he won a Reader’s Award in Orbis
\nMagazine for his poem “Hawks.” In the United States he won the Josh
\nSamuels’ Annual Poetry Competition (2003) for his poem: “The Man Who
\nLoved Mermaids.” His play THE KILLER had it’s world premier at the
\nGARAGE THEATER in Long Beach, California (Sept-October 2006). He has
\nreceived the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Chapman University for his
\nwriting. Most recently his poem “Gregor’s Wings” has been nominated
\nfor The Best of The Net by Poetic Diversity.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a> editor@artvilla.com<\/strong>
\n  <\/p>\n

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Dogs baying, howling. Men in a jeep. Drinking beer. Pointing guns. Shrubs cracking under wheels. I’d seen them earlier today. Sitting in their jeep. Shooting squirrels out of trees. Blew ’em all apart. But I ran till the forest was quiet. Resting here beside a clump of dead branches I hear dogs baying. They’ve found … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,538],"tags":[18,136,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4019,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions\/4019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}