The Writer’s Digest is hosting its annual Poem a Day (PAD) Chapbook Challenge. Day Ten’s prompt is “a color poem.” Since today is Veteran’s Day, I wrote a war poem, a subject about which I have no experience, but for those who do, I have the utmost respect and owe a great debt of honor.

You may listen to me read the poem via the player below.

Red, for poppies which in the fields bloom
Midst the death and blood of bodies strewn
Across no mans land.

Brown, for the dirt, the trenches which flood
And fill with muck and mud and blood
Which clings and cakes on me.

Orange-yellow breaks and bursts in flash,
Pounds the earth, showers dirt, shells smash,
My friends who die with me.

White, the star shells flared floating light,
Hangs with hope, aids the sniper's sight
Who fixes in crosshairs.

Black, on me descends at last in death
Light fades, night falls as does my fleeting breath
In the fields of France.

© Randall Edwards 2020

Below are a collection of postcards which my great-uncle Harry brought back from France where he served on General Pershing’s staff in the Haute-Marne.