{"id":336,"date":"2006-10-13T15:33:02","date_gmt":"2006-10-13T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/2006\/10\/13\/remembrance-at-the-war-museum\/"},"modified":"2009-11-08T10:07:04","modified_gmt":"2009-11-08T14:07:04","slug":"remembrance-at-the-war-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/2006\/10\/13\/remembrance-at-the-war-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembrance at the War Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This is an experiment in <\/em>Sapphic stanzas<\/a><\/em>. I have revised it twice since I first posted it. I wrote it, obviously, after a moving visit, October 11, to Gallery 3 at the War Museum in Ottawa. Gallery 3 features events from 1931 to 1945. I found the experience quite overwhelming: simple things like some of the pamplets from the war brought back memories of my childhood.] <\/em><\/p>\n

Autumn maples\u2019 usual reds are muted.
\nEven oaks\u2019 baronial golds glow softer;
\nleaden clouds deliver dim hints of winter:
\nseasonal changes.<\/p>\n

Wartime papers: grainy old propaganda
\nIn my eyes I feel the emotions rising
\ntriggered by collections of printed booklets
\naimed at the children.<\/p>\n

Long vestigial memories speed my breathing;
\nI can feel them gathering in the hallways,
\nGhosts of childhood lingering in my memory:
\nSpirits of wartime.<\/p>\n

Words like “freedom”, “glorious”, “victor”, “allies”
\nMade it seem that fighting and death were magic
\nsaid that valour was of itself a promise:
\nMiracles never.<\/p>\n

Sirens, air-raids, shortages, rumours, childhood:
\nMired in death and misery of other children
\nand the cries of others who fell in wartime
\nHitler\u2019s excrescence.<\/p>\n

I am searching memories for my father
\nNot expecting much in the way of fondness;
\nBut, surprise: in gallery three I find it.
\nWar II exhibit.<\/p>\n

Back I fly through images sounds and nightmares
\nspitfires music bombing and ration booklets
\nfears that end in atoms and death forever:
\nweep for the victims.<\/p>\n

Silent woods and grasses outside the building
\nleave me standing shocked in the autumn evening
\nhere we live in peace but for fading memories:
\nlest we forget it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This is an experiment in Sapphic stanzas. I have revised it twice since I first posted it. I wrote it, obviously, after a moving visit, October 11, to Gallery 3 at the War Museum in Ottawa. Gallery 3 features events … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-sapphic-stanzas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}