A Buddha statue in Afghanistan before and after ISIS blew it up.‘Statues’ and Other Poetry by Charles Bauer The Society March 19, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 24 Comments Statues A Villanelle Two Buddhas now a lost reality, A crowd chants loudly near a pile of stone; Across the South you won’t find General Lee. The temples fell despite UNESCO’s plea And ISIS’ pledge to leave the past alone; Two Buddhas now a lost reality. For Durham’s statue lax authority Sidelined police and set official tone; Across the South you won’t find General Lee. Through shades of Mosul’s ravaged library Scholars wail as deserts’ dry winds moan – Two Buddhas now a lost reality. Mt. Rushmore has two heads from history Which some want smashed and legacies unknown; Across the South you won’t find General Lee. What icons of the past can all agree Remind of our mistakes or how we’ve grown? Two Buddhas now a lost reality; Across the South you won’t find General Lee. Field of Wheat Dark rows of soil lay waiting for new life; Spring weather coaxes tiny stems to rise. Once frozen, fallow fields fill quickly, rife With green. Enamored field mice fraternize In burrows underneath the frost while deer Intently wait as tender sprouts gain size. Sun rises, sets; stalks slowly lengthen, spear Into blue sky. Migrating birds return, Pale mice are born and learn that they must fear The owls at night; fawns bedded down in fern Conceal themselves with camouflage from packs Of wolves. Days lengthen, wheat begins to burn From green to gold; dry ground is scored with cracks. Wind rustles heads of grain, small insects creep On brittle stems, worn butterflies relax. Scythe’s steady rhythm lulls as sharp blades reap, Exposing earth to winter’s reign; seeds sleep. Charles Bauer resides in Apex, NC and is a salesman for a commercial carpet manufacturer. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. 24 Responses J. Simon Harris March 19, 2018 The first poem is a thought provoking, well done villanelle. I like that you mention so many disparate cases of fallen monuments, some historical and some hypothetical. The poem casts shades of gray on an issue which many people see as black and white. The second poem is a great example of terza rima. I really love your handling of the meter, and your enjambment works well too. Very well done! Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Apologies for the delay in replying Mr. Harris; thank you for your kind words! “Statues” was intended to point out just the “shades of gray” that you mentioned. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Amy Foreman March 19, 2018 I, too, really liked the enjambment on the second poem, as well as the alliteration, which makes it a pleasure to read aloud: ” frozen, fallow fields fill quickly, rife . . . Sun rises, sets; stalks slowly lengthen, spear . . . green to gold; dry ground . . .” Very nicely crafted, Mr. Bauer! Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Please accept my apologies for the long delay in replying Ms. Foreman. Thank you very much for reading my poem and your gracious post! Best wishes, Charlie Reply Lenore March 19, 2018 I enjoyed reading these and appreciate the depth and meaningful messages in them. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you! Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply. Best wishes, Charlie Reply David Hollywood March 19, 2018 ‘Statues’ echoes’ a sensitive subject, and which singularly reminded me of a destruction that was very upsetting at the time, and continues to bite when repeated through reminders of it, and this is especially so when considering those statues were impressively tangible reflections of an age I had nothing to do with or any connection to, but which through their representations managed and presented values and/or beliefs and practices on behalf of others who wanted to demonstrate how fifteen hundred years ago they were as much a part of religious, artistic and historical portrayal and committed sincerity as anything else. However, and much to my chagrin I am too charged with contemporary opinion to wish to comment upon the Durham statue, or as may be compared; the Victoria and Nelson’s monuments in my own Ireland, so please allow me the margin of difference. However, I thank you for the thoughtful provocations of the poem. As for ‘Field of Wheat’ I thought the sentiment both sensitive and tender and again thank you for it. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you for your thoughts Mr. Hollywood; your’s is about as perfect a reaction as I could ask for to my poem (I hope that comes across as a positive and NOT a negative comment). Additionally your request to, “…allow me the margin of difference” was quite simply elegant! Please forgive me for the extreme delay in replying. Best wishes, Charlie Reply David Paul Behrens March 19, 2018 We should not destroy the statues of General Lee, or any other confederate statues, anywhere in America. They should all be placed in an American Racism Museum. Reply Joseph S. Salemi March 20, 2018 I think you’re part of the problem. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you Mr. Salemi! David Paul Behrens March 26, 2018 Let’s not get personal. Wendy Bourke March 19, 2018 I enjoyed both of these well-constructed, thought-provoking pieces. Villanelles are my favorite form – and though the repetition can be very challenging, ‘Statues’ comes together brilliantly, and to great effect. A pleasure to read. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you very much Ms. Bourke! Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your post. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Joseph Charles MacKenzie March 19, 2018 It is wonderful to see a poet take up in fine fashion the theme of iconoclasm, one of the features of our Puritan American society. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you Mr. MacKenzie; I enjoy your work very much! My apologies for taking so long to respond to your post. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Dave Whippman March 20, 2018 “Statues” is so topical; there is this sinister desire now to rewrite history. IS does it crudely; the PC brigade in the west is perhaps more subtle, but just as deadly. We need to admit that not everyone who achieved anything in history was someone we would agree with. Otherwise, where does this revision end? Your poem said it well. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 My apologies for taking so long to respond to your post Mr. Whippman. Thank you for your observations! How do we study history if we destroy it? Best wishes, Charlie Reply Cardiwel Ebuse March 20, 2018 Mr. Bauer’s first poem is certainly topical, as we have seen here before @ SCP, as, for example, in Joshua Phillip’s hopeful, heartfelt, anapestic-tetrametre sonnet “On the Tearing Down of Confederate General Statues”. But those are not the only things being destroyed, as the following demonstrates: Destruction of Long Island Statues: March 2018 A statue of the Virgin Mary was beheaded at the Church of Saint Gerard Majella in Port Jefferson. A vandal also broke a hand, who knows the reason why; but hatred roams across the land beneath the open sky. The maker of the statues said that he would freely give another to the congregation; love, it seems, still lives. But earlier, a week before, some vandals sacrificed another statue, this one of a life-size Jesus Christ, outside the shrine, Our Lady of the Island, Manorville. It seems intolerance and hate will never have their fill. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you Mr. Ebuse! Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your kindness. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Curdise Belawe March 20, 2018 Mr. Bauer and Mr. Ebuse are correct. In 2013, Sunni jihadists beheaded a statue of Abassid-era poet and philosopher Abu al-Alaa al-Maari. In 2015, they destroyed a sculpture of Ibrahim Hanano in Idlib. The destruction, three days ago, by Turkish forces and their jihadist proxies, was the statue, in the center of Afrin, of Kawa—the legendary blacksmith of Kurdish mythology whose fire illuminates the Kurdish struggle against the totalitarian regimes of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your post Mr. Belawe. Thank you for pointing out these additional examples. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Leo Yankevich March 21, 2018 Thank you for these well-made poems. Reply Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you for your gracious words Mr. Yankevich. Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your kindness. Best wishes, Charlie Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
J. Simon Harris March 19, 2018 The first poem is a thought provoking, well done villanelle. I like that you mention so many disparate cases of fallen monuments, some historical and some hypothetical. The poem casts shades of gray on an issue which many people see as black and white. The second poem is a great example of terza rima. I really love your handling of the meter, and your enjambment works well too. Very well done! Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Apologies for the delay in replying Mr. Harris; thank you for your kind words! “Statues” was intended to point out just the “shades of gray” that you mentioned. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Amy Foreman March 19, 2018 I, too, really liked the enjambment on the second poem, as well as the alliteration, which makes it a pleasure to read aloud: ” frozen, fallow fields fill quickly, rife . . . Sun rises, sets; stalks slowly lengthen, spear . . . green to gold; dry ground . . .” Very nicely crafted, Mr. Bauer! Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Please accept my apologies for the long delay in replying Ms. Foreman. Thank you very much for reading my poem and your gracious post! Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Lenore March 19, 2018 I enjoyed reading these and appreciate the depth and meaningful messages in them. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you! Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
David Hollywood March 19, 2018 ‘Statues’ echoes’ a sensitive subject, and which singularly reminded me of a destruction that was very upsetting at the time, and continues to bite when repeated through reminders of it, and this is especially so when considering those statues were impressively tangible reflections of an age I had nothing to do with or any connection to, but which through their representations managed and presented values and/or beliefs and practices on behalf of others who wanted to demonstrate how fifteen hundred years ago they were as much a part of religious, artistic and historical portrayal and committed sincerity as anything else. However, and much to my chagrin I am too charged with contemporary opinion to wish to comment upon the Durham statue, or as may be compared; the Victoria and Nelson’s monuments in my own Ireland, so please allow me the margin of difference. However, I thank you for the thoughtful provocations of the poem. As for ‘Field of Wheat’ I thought the sentiment both sensitive and tender and again thank you for it. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you for your thoughts Mr. Hollywood; your’s is about as perfect a reaction as I could ask for to my poem (I hope that comes across as a positive and NOT a negative comment). Additionally your request to, “…allow me the margin of difference” was quite simply elegant! Please forgive me for the extreme delay in replying. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
David Paul Behrens March 19, 2018 We should not destroy the statues of General Lee, or any other confederate statues, anywhere in America. They should all be placed in an American Racism Museum. Reply
Wendy Bourke March 19, 2018 I enjoyed both of these well-constructed, thought-provoking pieces. Villanelles are my favorite form – and though the repetition can be very challenging, ‘Statues’ comes together brilliantly, and to great effect. A pleasure to read. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you very much Ms. Bourke! Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your post. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Joseph Charles MacKenzie March 19, 2018 It is wonderful to see a poet take up in fine fashion the theme of iconoclasm, one of the features of our Puritan American society. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you Mr. MacKenzie; I enjoy your work very much! My apologies for taking so long to respond to your post. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Dave Whippman March 20, 2018 “Statues” is so topical; there is this sinister desire now to rewrite history. IS does it crudely; the PC brigade in the west is perhaps more subtle, but just as deadly. We need to admit that not everyone who achieved anything in history was someone we would agree with. Otherwise, where does this revision end? Your poem said it well. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 My apologies for taking so long to respond to your post Mr. Whippman. Thank you for your observations! How do we study history if we destroy it? Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Cardiwel Ebuse March 20, 2018 Mr. Bauer’s first poem is certainly topical, as we have seen here before @ SCP, as, for example, in Joshua Phillip’s hopeful, heartfelt, anapestic-tetrametre sonnet “On the Tearing Down of Confederate General Statues”. But those are not the only things being destroyed, as the following demonstrates: Destruction of Long Island Statues: March 2018 A statue of the Virgin Mary was beheaded at the Church of Saint Gerard Majella in Port Jefferson. A vandal also broke a hand, who knows the reason why; but hatred roams across the land beneath the open sky. The maker of the statues said that he would freely give another to the congregation; love, it seems, still lives. But earlier, a week before, some vandals sacrificed another statue, this one of a life-size Jesus Christ, outside the shrine, Our Lady of the Island, Manorville. It seems intolerance and hate will never have their fill. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you Mr. Ebuse! Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your kindness. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Curdise Belawe March 20, 2018 Mr. Bauer and Mr. Ebuse are correct. In 2013, Sunni jihadists beheaded a statue of Abassid-era poet and philosopher Abu al-Alaa al-Maari. In 2015, they destroyed a sculpture of Ibrahim Hanano in Idlib. The destruction, three days ago, by Turkish forces and their jihadist proxies, was the statue, in the center of Afrin, of Kawa—the legendary blacksmith of Kurdish mythology whose fire illuminates the Kurdish struggle against the totalitarian regimes of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your post Mr. Belawe. Thank you for pointing out these additional examples. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
Charlie Bauer March 25, 2018 Thank you for your gracious words Mr. Yankevich. Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply to your kindness. Best wishes, Charlie Reply
