Response to Prompt #50
This prompt had me stumped for a long time. I feel I've written so much about the few hills that have been important to me: the Metroparks, the hill we rolled down in Grant Park. Other than that, I was coming up blank.
I finally thought maybe I could pastiche some things together, another found poem of sorts. I could find hill related pieces. The only thing that came to mind was "Fool on a Hill," but I held out hope.
Then Saturday morning an important hill came to mind. I immediately knew I could use my idea to collage together a variety of things. I wanted the story and theme to shine through, the deeper meaning. Hope it works. (I left out my personal visits to the hill -- wanted this to feel more universal.)
Daffodil Hill
I wandered
lonely as a cloud
That floats
on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at
once I saw a crowd…
The Setting: The Commons on Kent State University Campus, May 4, 1970
Players:
Student protestors who are rallying,
Angry about Nixon’s intervention in Cambodia,
Ignoring the ban that had been imposed.
Governor Rhodes commanded National Guardsmen, 1000
count.
Students going to class or looking on in curiosity,
and one looking for a lost dog.
Tin soldiers
and Nixon coming
We’re finally
on our own…
The ROTC building was firebombed the day before
Rhodes said, “We are going to eradicate the problem.”
Young, tired, and tense guardsmen
Students speaking out, ignoring the bell to disperse
The guard moved, forcing the crowd of students up and
over the hill
Rocks and cement chunks thrown
A single shot.
No warning.
Three seconds of gunfire from the troops.
“My God! My
God! They’re killing us.”
What if you
knew her and found her dead on the ground?
Sandy Scheur.
William Schroeder
Allison Krause
Jeffrey Glenn Miller
This summer I
hear the drumming
Four dead in
Ohio
INTERLUDE:
Daffodils stand for rebirth, new beginnings,
luck and future prosperity
luck and future prosperity
Happiness
Setting: Kent State University
Campus, April 2019
I wandered
lonely as a cloud
That floats
on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at
once I saw a crowd,
A host, of
golden daffodils;
58,175 daffodils, to be exact.
One for every life lost in Vietnam.
The May 4 Memorial stands on 2-1/2 acres of wooded
land.
In the spring daffodils cover the hill, the heart of
the campus.
Four polished black granite disks reflect our image.
Four freestanding pylons are “mute sentinels to the
force of violence.”
The Plaza extends on to the hillside with a jagged
abstract border
"Symbolic of disruption and conflict of ideas."
Blacks and grays and the brilliant yellow, the whispering
woods
Inquire * Learn * Reflect – a place to be, and
remember
Those who fought for peace, and those who just wanted
to go to class.
For those of us in that generation, this was the event
that eradicated our energy.
Forever ended the 1960’s.
An unjust and unwinnable war, a government’s silence.
It defined everything during that time,
And so much of what came afterward.
In 1970 we were sick of loss and lies.
In 2019, we are still sick of loss and lies.
Yet…at this time of year there are daffodils,
reminding us again and again
Rebirth is always possible, new beginnings, happiness
They flash
upon that inward eye
Which is the
bliss of solitude;
And then my
heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with
the daffodils.
Sources:
“My God! They’re killing us!” Newsweek’s 1970
Coverage of the Kent State Shootings.
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth
“Ohio” lyrics by Neil Young
Special Collections and Archives: May 4 Memorial
(Kent State University)
Meaning and Symbolism of Daffodils
https://www.teleflora.com/meaning-of-flowers/daffodil
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