The cast turned
a fractured plywood board
a dozen empty bottles
and a broken rowing machine
into a stage set
where they cued a play
that spoke snippets
of all the conversations
that never took place
between lovers
in Shakespearian rhetoric
while testing
sledge hammer blows
on obsolete artillery shells
and land mines
left over from
nineteenth century wars
as dug up by
horse drawn plows
in farm fields
all over Western Europe
and North America.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 