Saturday, May 13, 2006

ben trail

here's one by the late soldier, teacher, and poet benard doss trail, the man who taught me to be a writer.

CREED by B.D. Trail

I believe in poetry - the dead speaking
to the almost dead, their hearts still beating,
cadenced chanting I am not alive.

I believe Hell is the place reserved
for those who lit no fires in the
Heaven of another human heart.

-B.D.T.


thanks 'n' a tip o' the hat to terry for sending this.

5 Comments:

Blogger andrew m. said...

not only did he do a swell job as a teacher (i've very much enjoyed your spiel over the past... however long i've been checking it,) but this cat can most def put down a righteously solid line his own self.

sometimes, when you're reading, a line will reach out and grab you by the throat when you're only halfway through it. then the rest of the line reads in sort of a hazy slo-mo and you know before you finish that you'll have to read it again, well... that's where the magic truly lives. that's where writing and reading becomes more than just words on a page.

"I believe Hell is the place reserved for those who lit no fires in the Heaven of another human heart" was one of those lines indeed. blew my mind. thanks for sharing.

5:17 PM  
Blogger stashdauber said...

yeah, ol' ben lit a buncha those fires

i'm not sure he ever realized it, tho

or if he did, maybe it just wasn't enough

may yr soul find peace, sir

6:10 PM  
Blogger Tammy Gomez said...

when did he die,
and where did you meet him?

5:46 PM  
Anonymous Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D. said...

I also had Ben D. Trail as a professor, and it broke my heart to learn he had taken his own life. I learned of his 1992 suicide when I tried to locate him to thank him for being an incredible teacher. (I had him for freshman English in 1984). ... It's good to see others also publicly remember him. ... I wish he were still around, to be sure, but I routinely share his poetry in my journalism courses when we discuss war-time reporting and PTSD. ..

Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D.

12:14 AM  
Blogger stashdauber said...

A longer reminiscence is here: http://stashdauber.blogspot.com/2004/10/bd-trail.html

7:37 AM  

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