Nomanneslond – A History Lesson by Larry D. Thacker

Trenches, endless boundaried miles,
framed a perfect Nomanneslond,
unpeopled at a glance, far specked
with hints of them once thrived with smiles,

now rest in some worst imaginings,
annihilation’s purity, envied by the hottest
blind-foul of hell, a landing ground
of starved Raven-feeders and worm.

The stilled oil slicked with battle-blood,
bone-splinter, foamy mouths agog,
half-prayers spoken in haste, retched
and finished in mud-claw and filth.

These are the killing grounds we spread
on the once white sand of Newlands found.
From first boot-drop, to red sundown,
we cast our fear-will on all we met.

What we left were flamed out crusts
of frames of monasteries and temples,
visiting fire-torch and hammered mace,
gate-crushing and felling the high walls,

razing all we happened upon, all men
and beast tossed to shallowed trenches
and met with metal-soaking, all spirits
body-blood mingled and put to flame.

Larry D. Thacker is an Appalachian writer and artist. His poetry can be found in past issues of The Still Journal, Kudzu Literary Magazine, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee, Unbroken Journal, Mojave River Review, Broad River Review, Harpoon Review, Rappahannock Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Vandalia and Appalachian Heritage, among others. His fiction can be found in past issues of The Still Journal and Fried Chicken and Coffee. He is the author of Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia and the poetry chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train. A student services higher education professional for 15 years, he is now engaged full-time in his poetry MFA from West Virginia Wesleyan College.