I sent my kite up high above
the apple trees, their blossoms
brimming with the nectar of the gods.
In the Royal Dragoons, you never
had a prayer of getting a kite up,
what with the reins in one hand,
a saber in the other, and the sky
above the battlefield so still
and full of smoke
it would take your breath away.
— RICHARD HEDDERMAN
Richard Hedderman’s latest book of poems is Choosing a Stone (Finishing Line Press). His work has been published in dozens of journals in the U.S. and abroad. A multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, he has been a Guest Poet at the Library of Congress, performed his writing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and is formerly Writer-in-Residence at the Milwaukee Public Museum. He lives in Milwaukee.