Once I drove through Virginia
from confederate monument
to confederate monument.
I weathered the humid summer air
and tested the patience
of locals tired of tourists.
I stared at generals’ names
lists of honored dead
and organizations that built the monument.
I found the monuments
on battlefields, in cemeteries
and town squares in front of court houses.
In all my time driving Virginia
I did not find a single monument
built by freedmen praising their former masters
or U. S. Colored Troops
honoring the chivalrous actions
of their battlefield foes.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
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