On What Became of Mathew Brady's Battle Photographs

By Peter Gizzi

This article appeared in the January 22, 2007 edition of The Nation.

January 4, 2007

Sunlight and plant light
glass and stain
the campaign the conflict
the dead frozen in air
the sun and the sweat
the swell of fetid flesh
the tears the ache
the empty gut the ache
the heat of loss
the nerves burn
and the shock
of never returning burns
in the belly
and the brain alike
these images lifting off
into air, dissolving
into heat and light
defy gravity
lifting off
they are going now
Mother, they are gone

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About Peter Gizzi

Peter Gizzi grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His poetry collections include The Outernationale (2007), Some Values of Landscape and Weather (2003), and a reprint of his first book, Periplum and Other Poems: 1987-1992 (2004). more...
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