July MGWAT

[Gunboat]

That is so moving Mandy

[ypres1418]

Thank you, it truly was a very moving experience.

Mandy

[spike10764]

That bit of writing came from the heart Mandy, well done....

[ypres1418]

thanks,

yes it did come from the heart and a very moving experience it was.

mandy

[Ozzie]

And very thought provoking.

Thanks Mandy.

Kim

[Chris Foster]

Hi Guys,

I was intending to set up the poll this month in Spike's absence (or should I say attempt)

but due to some unforeseen circumstance, I'm afraid that this will not be the case.

I hope someone else will have a crack at it.

Regards

Chris

[Landsturm]

I would, but there's a problem... I haven't yet figured out the difference between the "Old Contemptibles" and the "Kitchener's Army", meaning our regular poll and the new multichoice poll...

So either someone who knows and is present does the poll, or someone posts me 'Idiots Guide to Multichoice Poll'...

Only a week or so to go... I have to hurry. I'm currently working on oil paints. For those, who never visit me in DeviantART, here's one work-in-progress photo of my work... This was taken on July 18th, and the work looks a little bit different by now. I try to get it a little bit further today after work.

[marina]

That looks stunning, landsturm.

Marina

[Gunboat]

Landsturm that is a cracker

[spike10764]

" target="_blank">HOW TO DO A POLL

Also select

It's posts 44- 47 inclusive, with screen shots and don't forget to tick the box which allows for more than one vote.( We couldn't do that before).

Multiple Choice Question (after manage this Topic's Poll / Poll title / Add Poll Choice)

Clear as mud....

[spike10764]

Hope you are going to enter that one, Landsturm......

[Ozzie]

Great stuff Landstrum, please enter it.

Cheers

Kim

[ypres1418]

waiting to see the finished pic Landstrum!

mandy

[Landsturm]

I hope so too... I also, believe that Susanna is going to participate too, as she is now also a member of the forum. She hasn't showed me her work yet, but her idea sounds cool, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a great one!

I get back to art studio in couple of hours... Meanwhile, here's an update...

Tested the multichoice poll and YES! it works!!! I've never noticed the box, which wasn't there before...

[ypres1418]

Landstrum,

it is really coming along,

loving the detail and waiting with baited breath for the final showing (or the premier showing) here on MGWAT!

mandy

[spike10764]

Off on my hols for a fortnight (Vendee)- so I look forward to seeing this months final tally of entries belatedly. I will vote when I get back.

Wish me luck with the weather....

[ypres1418]

good luck with the weather but isn't the Vendee usually nice and hot?

Have a good and restful time.

Mandy

[Landsturm]

oil painting 2007,

The bloodiest day in British military history, July 1st 1916, has ended and survivors have set up for an afternoon roll call. For a better quality pic and close ups, you can visit click here.

[Gunboat]

I struggled this month. This poem doesn't quite work, I wanted to do it in free verse because I thought it more appropriate for the chaos of the day and the nightmare quality of the mans recollections and his delerium. I have a very real image but couldnt quite paint it this time.

The First of July

We came down the night before

Singing sentimental songs

Though our voices could hardly be heard

Above the barrage

I could hardly sleep

It wasn’t fear of what was to come

Nor was it the sound of shells that disturbed me,

I could close out all sound

It was the man-made lightning storm

That terror of my childhood nights

The flashes of distorted shadows in the corner where I crouched

That robbed me of my last ever dreams?

The morning was sunny

The mist that had hung over no mans land soon lifted

And there was warmth

The sun felt good on my face

We drank our Rum

The Captain came down the line

“Zero at 7.30, we walk, we don’t run”

We cheered when barrage had started

They came down with ladders

The laughing stopped

As the shells stopped falling

And then the strangest sound -silence-

“Get ready boys”, the Captain said

Looking at his watch

The second hand moving death slow

He put the whistle to his lips

“See you over the other side chum”

There was a flurry of shaking hands

“No one can survive that, it’s a stroll in the sun”

We laughed through our unease

Then a shrill of whistles

A push toward the ladders

Men struggling over the lip of the trench

Under the weight of kit

I looked down the line of trenches

Jagged lesions gouged into the earth

And we blood seeping from the wound

Spreading over the ground

It was quiet..so little sound

Save the reassuring clatter of kit

The heavy footfall of laden feet

And voices urging us forward

Then the zip of ten thousand lead bees about my head

And we staggered against a solid wall of sound

Men ignoring fear they walked on

Under that relentless rain of lead

They fell all around me

Mouths open in unheard screams of agony

Soundless pleadings to stop to help

Or simply silent, dead before they hit the ground

We didn’t stop, though we could see wire was uncut

Untouched despite the promises of the guns

Men writhed in its barbed embrace

Reduced to rags in the breeze

A hammer blow to my leg

Spun me to the ground

I wanted to shout

But who would hear me?

I crawled to a shell-hole

And let myself fall in

Conscious that I may chosen my own grave

My final place of rest?

What was at first a numbness

Turned into a searing burning pain

I closed my eyes in what was a vain

Attempt close out all that was around me

I don’t know how many times

I closed my eyes and opened them

In hope that I would no longer see above me

Brave men still walking forward

I remember one lad

A red haired red-faced freckled youth

He looked down at me, smiled and with a cheery wave

Mouthed “A Blighty one…A Blighty One”

Then his smile turned to surprise

Then fear, then submission, he let himself fall

His fingers clawing at the lip of the shell hole

But there too little life left to pull himself in

I closed my eyes to block out his pawing

His desperate, futile, scratching like a man that lies

Buried alive no one to hear or help him

I prayed that he would soon die

I closed my eyes

And an officer was at my side

He dressed my wound though he was much distracted

His eyes wide and hands shaking as he bound my leg

“They’re gone, my platoon, I’ve lost them”

He said more to himself than to me

“What should I do… I know what I must do..

I must find them and go forward”

He crawled up the side of the shell hole

And I called “Sir …Come Back”

As his head peered above the parapet

And he did, sliding back down next to me

“That’s right sir” I said his face near mine

“It’s no use going out there Sir

Its better you stay here with me …Sir….Sir?”

I noticed then the hole that was the back of his head

I closed my eyes

But whenever I opened them so were his

Accusing me of keeping him from his platoon

Preventing him from going forward

I have no idea how long

Pain wracked, thirst un-slaked

I had lay there in that hole

With those clawing hands and unclosed eyes

I have no idea how long

Save it was dark and I was half dead when the stretcher-bearers came

They shook their heads when I told them about the officer

And those freckled hands

Many years have passed

And many lightning storms

Have robbed me of my dreams

Distorting in my memory the shadows of that day

That fateful day the first of July

When those two and so many more fell and lie

There still, clawing for some shelter

Or lost and alone but for ever going forward

[Landsturm]

Bravo, Gunboat!!!!

[sjustice]

Well done all. Mandy, Landsturm, Gunboat I enjoyed your work.

Thank you.

SMJ

[Greyhound]

I looked down the line of trenches

Deep lesions gouged out the earth

And we its blood seeping from the wound

Spreading over the ground

A great piece of imagery.

[Gunboat]

Thanks All. Landsturm the forum crashed before I could commend you on your completed work, you capture the sense of Exhaustion, loss, and the relief of those who got back. It mustve been a short lived relief as the sense of shock at the scale of lost mustve been overwhelming.

[Dan Morton]

Very well done all! Mandy - your piece is simultaneously emotionally difficult to read and riveting. Marvelous!

All the best,

Dan

[Sekhmet]

My first post in this thread and I'm late, sorry! This took a surprisingly long time to finish, and I'm not too thrilled about the result.. but here's my two cents

The father she never knew

I'm glad to see that many different forms of art are being used in this topic, I very much like the poems and Mandy's text was touching. It's going to be difficult to choose which piece to vote!