On this day, 103 years ago, WWI ended and set the template for the rest of the murderous 20th century. One of the poets who chronicled the war was the American John Allan Wyeth. His collection of poems āThis Manās Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnetsā was well received but faded from view, as sometimes happens. Hereās one of the sonnets. Itās remarkable:Ā
HarbonniĆØres to Bayonvillers: Picnic
A house marked Ortskommandanturāa great
sign Kaiserplatz on a corner church,
and German street names all around the square.
Troop columns split to let our sidecar through.
āDrive like hell and get back to the main roadāitās getting late.ā
āYessir.ā
The roadway seemed to reel and lurch
through clay wastes rimmed and pitted everywhere.
āYou hungry?āHave some of this, thereās enough for two.ā
We drove through Bayonvillersāand as we ate
men long since dead reached out and left a smirch
and taste in our throats like gas and rotten jam.
āWant any more?ā
āYes sir, if you got enough there?ā
āThose fellows smell pretty strong.ā
āIāll say they do,
ābut Iām too hungry sir to care a damn.ā
