["Did you know . . . . . there's as
much water in the world today as there was thousands of years ago. Actually,
it's the same water. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that
dinosaurs drank. Perhaps Columbus sailed across it."-Message on the
Carolina Water Services bill, June 1997.]
Near Padua
the oval fields stretch wetly green and mown;
and at the museum, a Greek
heads the ball
on a terra cotta plate,
and Romans, it is written,
played the game to prepare for battle.
Athlete statues glide in grace, out of, into
other fluid days.
Near Padua, mud of ages
slides in streams and rivers,
chalk-mud, sweet fern-and-fossil mud,
bark-and-spore mud; mud of mystery cures
to soothe the joints of ancient ones and me.
Wrapped in mud
I'm damp with one of them right now,
centurion, I think, whose bones rest somewhere
in this hot and creamy salve.
Will I come out pregnant and beloved,
come out knowing, being, something new?
Near Padua
mud's made whole and warm again
by rains and thermal streams,
by Isabella's oceans
and Kalamata sun that
heals and dries the fields
near Padua and keeps the quicklime
crisp.
© 1998 Anne Harding Woodworth,
all rights reserved.
Contact publisher
for re-print possibility
Originally published in Potomac Review, Spring, 1998
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Germany
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France
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My Vietnam Related Websites:
Women in
Vietnam ~ Read about ALL the women who served . . .
Dusty's Home
Page ~ Poetry and prose by a woman who was a nurse in Vietnam
The
Irish on the Wall ~ An effort to locate the Irish who died in Vietnam
Tim
O'Brien's Home Page ~ National Book Award Winner and Americal Vet
Emily's Poetry
~ By a Red Cross Donut Dolly
Shrapnel in
the Heart ~ The most moving book you will read on Vietnam
All About
Vietnam ~ An annotated bibliography of books about Vietnam for
sale thru Amazon Worldwide!
Battle
Dressing ~ The Journey of a Nurse in Vietnam
Project Hearts
and Minds ~ Help put Viet Nam back together
Photos
from a Holts' Military History Tour ~ My trip to Vietnam, February 1998
My Other Websites:
Maybe
Later . . . ~ My Creative Nonfiction
Irish
in Korea ~ Irish men and women who gave their lives in the Korean War
Literature
of the Korean War ~ Don't let the literature be forgotten
Samuel
Pepys ~ One of my favorite authors
Chicago
Theatre Z - A ~ This is the best theater town in the country!
Soccer
Literature ~ I'm a fan and I read
O'Leary Lantern
~ Fire! Fire! Fire!
Gil
Thorp ~ THE Coach (apologies to The General!)
Poetry
of the First World War ~ Owen, Hardy and others
Chi-COW-go
~ Cowz plus Commentary (this used to be a cow town)
Graham
Fulton, Scottish Poet ~ Charles Manson Auditions for the Monkees
Other Important Websites:
The
Truth About Caroline ~ a really good Young Adult book by
my niece, Stacey
M. Lane Grosh
Remember
Oklahoma City ~
The Civil Service and Military will
NEVER forget!
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Page last updated May 11, 2004
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