I S S U E  10

Paul Muldoon

Winslow Homer: The Veteran in a New Field

Quite apart from the Union Army jacket and canteen
that dominate the foreground,
the very cross of the galluses
on his back might mark him as a target

for the many still keen
to remember their kin downed
at Appomattox. Some blisters never grow calluses
just as some townsfolk never grasp the argot   

of a scythe’s ‘tang’ and ‘snaith.’
The veteran lays into the head-high barley 
as if he might indeed stand firm

against these serried ranks of wraiths
with whom there’s no hope of sitting down to parley
never mind coming to terms.

Paul Muldoon is the author of fifteen collections of poetry including Joy in Service on Rue Tagore to be published by FSG and Faber in 2024. He lives in New York.