"40 Miles"
by Anthony Roberts
The road west stretches ahead
the beasts of the apocalypse
dormant and unfed
40 miles of flaccid aggression
sits waiting wanting the fuel it needs
to move forward with its funeral procession
In the bellies of the beast gnawing hunger competes with cold lingering winter
Lent begins early for all of us sinners
The souls of Napoleon’s Army
that retreated across these plains joined by the hapless Wehrmacht who remain
survey the flames that light up the horizon they look on amazed
They being dead have no care for being fed instead wondering how sons of the army that crushed them once in its wake could make the same fatal mistake
The land that swallowed the standards of France in the cold, that swallowed panzer divisions whole, that swallowed Europe’s generations before they were grown, now turns upon itself and swallows its own
Anthony Roberts is a veteran of Baltimore and Afghanistan. He currently lives in New Jersey in a home with beautiful views and interlocking fields of fire.
Listen to our Savage Wonder episode with him here.
He is the author of the Pushcart Prize-nominated Pigtown and The Clearing Barrel.
You can follow him here.
You can see Anthony Roberts live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet? Tickets are only FREE until April 1.
If you give monkeys enough time, can they really write Hamlet? How did Leon Trotsky actually react to finding an axe embedded in his head? What does it take for two strangers to fall in love without screwing it up? Are you having a bad day or are you simply stuck in a "Philadelphia"? The VetRep 2022 season of staged readings kicks off with an evening of fast and funny staged readings featuring the whimsical comedy of David Ives.
Get your Pay What You Can tickets here quickly - remember only 16 seats per performance!