THE UNMENTIONED

When you read the Norse sagas of Iceland,

of the warriors in their madness

roving the world and

pillaging, killing -

spreading their name with blade and blood

until they are themselves killed

with guile or betrayal; houses

engulfing parties with fire

and rivers and seas families

with their waves, They

go unmentioned except

here and there, slain

or witness to a killing. Unworthy

of much more, the

seventy or eighty percent or so

who were slaves.

10.01.2018