I remember watching Soldier Blue,
under age, naive, not sure what the film
was about back then in early nineteen seventy two.
At first, I thought it was a romantic
cowboy flick, as I was watching Soldier Blue.
The landscape was not like ours; Sand Creek
had enormous mountains, gentle plains, a sky of blue
but, by the end, it ran run red with blood from spear and sword:
the rape and massacre of women, children too.
I felt white heat rising in my breast, fury at the pointless deaths
of innocents realised in watching Soldier Blue.
Kim M. Russell, 2018
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Fashion Me Your Words to FOLD: in April
Gillena’s Fashion Me Your Words In April is about ‘Destructive Weapons’. She says that we are not using them, only wrapping our thoughts around them, and folding them into Poems. The constraints of the Fold, also known as guidelines, are that the poem must have:
- 11 lines;
- Repetition of the end phrase of Line 1 at Lines 5 and 11;
- the rhyme of line 1 continued in every other line;
- a reference to nature and how it affects the poet is a must.
writing in north norfolk 
April is National Poetry Month. I’m a poet! Cheers.
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Yikes!😲 I remember this film which was the definition of gruesome! Your poem (on the other hand) is raw and potent. Kudos to you for carrying out the form so elegantly!❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa! 😉 xxx
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OMG 🤤you nailed it on every count Kim.
Thank you for an awesome response Fold to my gruesome prompt
Have a nice weekend
Much🌼love
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Thank you so much, Gillena! I still don’t know what made me think of Soldier Blue.
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Innocence lost for sure after watching that film. You describe it well and with passion at the ending.
Well done with the form, definitely not an easy write.
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Thank you, Ellecee!
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I haven’t seen that film – and now I’ll make sure I never do! The poem, on the other hand, is moving in its clarity and passion.
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Thank you, Rosemary.
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Well captured Kim. I found this a tricky form but you have rolled this out with aplomb.
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Thanks Paul. It is a tricky form and, like a lot of tricky forms, it suddenly clicks into place when you least expect it!
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A film I’ve never seen, but I love how you describe the impact… some films are actually like waking up, and you realize that humans can do the worst of things and the best of things.
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Thank you, Bjorn!
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Yes, often films can capture and make visible, what we don’t see in everyday life, what slips under the radar. I liked what did.
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Annell!
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Love how you ‘folded’ that memory into this. It’s a credit to the actors that they got a reaction from you. And then again…there’s nothing good about war.
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Thanks Viv. That was such a shocking film, especially for a teenager, but it did leave a lasting impression.
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🙂
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I had to look up this movie – I’dnever seen it (and I’m glad). Your poem makes such an impact, Kim.
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Thank you, Candy.
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This seems made for this style – it flows so smoothly and the bit of repetition really is perfect. Enjoyed immensely.
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Thank you, Margaret.
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