for a brief moment
at armistice
rifles stayed silent
while soldiers listened
to whisper of quills
bleeding ink onto paper
Soldiers celebrating World War I Armistice. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/US Army Signal Corps/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Marian want presents the form Cherita at toads. Tomorrow it’s the hundred years memory of Armistice. It did not end there, but something new begun. I will also link this to Poetry Pantry tomorrow.
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November 10, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Beautiful words about a complex topic. Nice mate.
There were a couple of times during that dreadful war there was silence in the guns. This is beautifully portrayed.
Great contrast.
For a brief moment I imagine heart rates slowed, anxiety lessened. Until it began again. Your poem is sobering.
Very effectively penned! I can’t really imagine what it must have been like!
This puts me in mind of the Christmas armistice, after which the two sides once again tried to kill those with whom they’d just sung Christmas carols.
janet
Beautifully worded.
you can literally ‘feel’ the pause – reading these words … as if … waiting … pregnant moments indeed …
and bleeding ink onto paper is particularly “chilling” for the losses ….
excellent!
Oh, that dichotomy of “silent/listened” works so well in its wordplay as well as its visual metaphor. The brevity of the moment says so much in these six lines. Beautifully done.
Oh, that dichotomy of “silent/listened” works so well in its wordplay as well as its visual metaphor. The brevity of the moment says so much in these six lines. Beautifully done.
Yes, their only link to their families was to write or receive hand written letters often taking weeks or longer to reach their destination unaware of each others fate.
We learnt nothing from the great wars.. sadly. .. poets keep writing and bombs keep dropping.
And we seem to have forgotten it all again as nationalism eyes its inevitable ending once again.
It’s uncanny how our ideas often chime together, Björn – yours bled ink and mine poppies.I love the ‘whisper of quills’.
I love your notebook version, Bjorn..
I don’t like the fussy forms challenges because they are often way too narrow for the heart trying to make its way onto paper. (But then, look at the straightjacket of rhyme I usually perform in!) Anyway, this armistice moment does not have the same resonance in America–we entered the War so late, and saw nothing of the absolute horror devastation of the Western Front. Your moment is still (but didn’t the shooting stop at armistice?), chilling, and resonant.
My thought that was how the big armistice was just a brief moment (well 20 years actually) before it started again
I really love your notebook version, Bjorn! ❤️
interesting form, and a Malay word, no less.
i like to see a poet ‘bleed ink’ onto paper. 🙂
What a beautiful use of the form!
Perfect. I hope they are signing a peace agreement.
I actually closed my eyes, for this one, and listened… Stunning.
Oh, I love your notebook version, as though it could have been found locked away in a trunk somewhere. Beautiful and so thoughtful, Bjorn, thank you.
Yes! That potent silence, the poets’ pain bleeding onto the page……..
Poignant.
I loved it all!
Inked onto paper, I love to read notebook thoughts.I am wondering what else you have in that notebook, I know off subject but I am always thinking outside the lines.
I love the depth inside this brevity of words. This is a great poem! Perfect for today.
Those few words have me stopped and contemplating especially the ending line…so powerful and they evoke incredible visions and deep emotions.
Perfectly temporary, like all ceasefires of the past. To really stop, we’d have to bury the weapons.
This little piece is so impactful. I think, the way in which you have hung the first lines onto the last is what does it … The (proverbial) ending with a whimper – not with a bang, left me nodding ‘yes’.
There is so much contained in this small poem. All the destruction and death ends with signatures on paper. Thank God it did.
I love small forms! This speaks volumes!
kaykuala
It tugs at the emotional strings when life and death are consequent to man-made decisions pitting man to man. Great word-craft Bjorn!
Hank.
Perfect! Love the sound of quills on paper. the setting is perfect.
Awesome. Did you ever hear of the “Christmas Truce Football Field”? This sacred ground hosted a miraculous occurrence during Christmas in World War I when men laid down their arms and fraternized with the enemy by playing soccer and singing together. Proof that whatever those in power would have us believe there are more similarities between various nationalities than differences. Also cementing our enduring desire for peace and inter connectedness. (from my friend Toril)
Nice Cherita. Luv the bleeding ink
Happy you dropped by my sumie Sunday tjis week
Much❤💛❤love
Beautifully worded.
The moments when rifles are silent are much too brief…
this form suits you, Bjorn ~
A Veterans Day beauty.