Time for Some Transitions
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A week and a half ago, Mindy and I learned we’ll be moving to Phoenix, Arizona in June. We knew a move was probably coming, so it was nice to finally hear where we’d go, but then a whole host of other issues comes up, like where we’ll live and how we’ll get there.
It’s going to be a difficult transition, but we’re ready for a change. Thanks to everyone who helped us in this process.
Burnside won’t change, which is is a nice advantage to this Internet age. I was telling someone lately how those of us in our mid- to late-20’s still remember a time when there wasn’t an Internet, with all the great and horrible things that entails. Sometimes I wonder if it’d be nice to go back.
We are often asked if Burnside runs poetry. We don’t. But April is National Poetry Month, and editor-at-large John Pattison is gathering a collection to be posted on the Burnside Writer’s Blog. He’s looking for poems to post every day during April, and he would appreciate some help. If there’s a particular poem you love or something you’ve written, send it to John by clicking here.
The first poem I memorized was “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I love it more as time passes. Some say it’s about the futility of war, others say it’s about courage. I think it might be about both.
1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
“Charge for the guns!” he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
2.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
4.
Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Have a great week, everyone.
Jordan Green
Burnside Writer’s Collective
Posted on March 31, 2008 12:00 AM
Comments
Why are you moving to PHX? And in what area will you be living?
Posted by: Jarrod | April 16, 2008 12:40 PM
We're moving in late May. We bought a house in the Biltmore area, but not one of the really nice ones.
Posted by: Jordan | April 16, 2008 12:58 PM