Another NH Winter Stand
Saddle bags filled with crackers and peanut butter.
It was an ambush, waiting in the
foot hills of the White mountains.
The outlaws rode hard and fast,
leaving the criminals in the gritty;
those that were stealing personal values.
Stripping beliefs and belongings,
scouring the landscape
for those cutting a different path,
trying to escape their understanding.
The officials, expecting early retirement,
were waiting for them. They, tired of the ride,
guns loaded with innuendo, censured, embellished,
as sordid as history would allow, opened fire.
The outlaws rode hard and fast
towards something they believed in.
But they knew, tomorrow would never last.
Bushwhacked yesterday, (poor bastards
were trying to veer off a different path.
Heading north, through the Lakes Region),
they were caught in surprise.
Caught! Being alive! Some shot in the back!
‘Cause there was no one who could ride by her side
through the volley, under fire, she kept her eye
ahead of their aim. Galloping by “We can shoot back” she said.
Oh crap! Giddy-up!
It’s now, only her and I…
as I was thinking,
stacking wood after splitting it,
for this winter.
Tags: http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/, New Hampshire
Gillena Cox
October 23, 2014 at 2:44 pm
this is such a beautiful haibun, the haiku at the end is what reigned it into focus
Thank you for, your warm emails during this week, i am feeling much better and only now catching up on my visits
much love…
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Loredana Donovan
October 20, 2014 at 5:44 pm
This could be a short story, very creative 🙂
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Justin Lamb
October 20, 2014 at 1:19 pm
I like the imaginative tale.
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magicalmysticalteacher
October 20, 2014 at 11:38 am
I would be very wary of “guns loaded with innuendo”!
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Abin
October 19, 2014 at 11:49 pm
seemed straight out of an old western…like Jesse James and his gang
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Poet Laundry
October 19, 2014 at 10:45 pm
I like how this is imbued with the renegade spirit of the Old West.
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humbird
October 19, 2014 at 10:02 pm
Nice warm thoughts for coming cold winter, and the story …to appreciate the peace.
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Gabriella
October 19, 2014 at 9:02 pm
I never thought chopping wood could induce such imaginative thoughts!
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Donna@GardensEyeView
October 19, 2014 at 5:32 pm
I loved how your mind wandered as you chopped and the outlaws rode…but perhaps it was the end when you were back to her and I that I was smiling as snap the wood chopping ended…loved the imagery.
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G L Meisner
October 19, 2014 at 1:40 pm
Yes, winter comes on quick with fewer visitors.
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Kerry O'Connor
October 19, 2014 at 1:21 pm
There are tales in the most prosaic tasks, and every place we inhabit has its own history.
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Talon
October 19, 2014 at 1:19 pm
I loved the pace of this — it just swept me up and I galloped right along! Loved this!
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Sherry Blue Sky
October 19, 2014 at 11:17 am
I enjoyed this madcap adventure….and loved even more the closing lines as you emerged from chopping wood. Hee hee. Loved this!!
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Susan
October 19, 2014 at 11:14 am
I grinned as this allegory galloped along. Do we want to kill all these enemies so we are left to examine our own hearts? The cold of the New Hampshire winter is the perfect place for us to hunker down and figure out how to build a world with traps for outlaws or no outlaws at all..
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Grace
October 19, 2014 at 10:25 am
You have a vivid imagination ~ I was wondering how the adventure will end ~
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Sumana Roy
October 19, 2014 at 10:16 am
could feel the cozy, snug home giving rise to this adventurous reverie…
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg)
October 19, 2014 at 9:56 am
When you chop wood.. it’s great to let the mind wander.. what a tale of romantic outlaws… I should try to do that but the only poem getting to my mind chopping wood is Out! Out! by Robert Frost…
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dsnake1
October 19, 2014 at 9:51 am
wow, the ending threw me off the saddle. 🙂
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Mary
October 19, 2014 at 9:36 am
What a cleverly crafted tale…and then the ending that takes the reader back to reality.
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drpkp
October 19, 2014 at 8:19 am
Absolutely wonderful – love the stream of consciousness ride and the crisp return at poem’s end.
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vandana
October 19, 2014 at 7:50 am
all goes every where round and round
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Paul F. Lenzi
October 19, 2014 at 7:41 am
boisterous beauty of a ride through the current state of affairs
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