Stormtroopers Advancing Under Glass

By Salvatore Difalco

After my ship-in-a-bottle succumbed
to self-engendered thunderstorms,
I turned to war and fashioned a work
composed of pheasant skulls and bones,
some blackened with charcoal or blood,
all gathered under a classic glass cloche.

Battles and wars, battles and wars,
that is how I approached this probe
into the darker country of man,
ranging the skulls like gas masks,
stitching feathers and skin,
and crafting weapons from bones.

I could not know if the pheasants lived
good lives and died well, or fed families 
or armies, or if they went out squawking,
afraid, or full of bitterness and regrets.
But I felt compelled to make the best
of their broken, meatless carcasses.

Battles and wars, battles and wars,
scoring the project from start to completion,
leaving no room for interpretation
or scorn. Covered in glass one might
suspect the remnants of a hearty meal,
not the gassing of millions or bayoneting. 

Salvatore Difalco writes from Toronto, Canada.