Fort Worden, Washington – Shannon Evans

Practice parade ground,
Boots marching in the shadows,
Ghosts of a past.

Cracked broken cement.
Whose feet have traveled this path
On their way toward death?

Stark white infirmary
Windowpanes graced by sunlight
Revealing pallor

There lie many bones
Never saw battles or war
Fevered and alone.

Sun cloud; winds fresh breath,
Dust motes etching time’s journey
With death’s kind caress.

About the contributor: Shannon Evans is a Southern author accidentally born north of the Mason Dixon. Her father’s military service and her mother’s journalism career moved the family eventually back to Mississippi. She spent her days listening to the stories of her family and friends told and retold in their rich Southern accents. She attended Mississippi University for Women in order to have first-hand access to the Eudora Welty collection. She has written multiple non-fiction “how to” books and edited hundreds of others. She makes her home in Port Townsend, WA and in a sleepy little Mexican fishing village.