The Counting
(Little Bighorn 1876)
At dawn, the grass speaks
in tongues of dew. Seven hundred men
ride into the valley like a serpent,
brass buttons catching June light.
Somewhere, a woman strings
blue beads onto sinew, not knowing
her art will outlive the warrior
who commissioned it. The river bends
like a question mark through the land.
Custer divides his forces —
the oldest military mistake,
as …
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