"Battery O'Rorke" - G.C. Waldrep

The poems that stand out most in G.C. Waldrep's second collection, Disclamor, are the battery poems, a series of nine poems dispersed throughout the collection describing nine different military fortifications on the northern California coast.  I examined the fourth poem in which Waldrep describes the power of words and the trouble that war brings.  Battery O'Rorke is named after Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke who graduated from West Point Military Academy and was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.

The first thing Waldrep does is reminds us of how things quickly disappear and also how things change over time.  "What is written here fades quickly. / Faces drawn in chalk / names."  Waldrep is noting the graffiti covering the abandoned fort, which used to stand for the security of our nation.  His somber tone then reflects his position concerning war.  "West, east, the longitudes of war. / This is no place for monuments."

Waldrep shows us how words are so important.  "The beach ignores the power of words / as words ignore the power of things."  He means that violence and fear can be avoided by rationalization and collaboration, but both stand no chance against weapons and war.  He notices that there is a very humanistic element missing from the motivation to build such a place as a battery.  Communication.

The structure and literary techniques that Waldrep use are unique to his style.  The lines are very sporadically spaced, possibly to slow down the pace of the poem or to mirror the broken armament.  Also the poem is intentionally divided into four parts, all of which have a different number of lines.  Waldrep uses repetition frequently and does not try to avoid obscurities despite naming himself "a very minor poet" in the third section.  "I walked to the sea as I walk to the sea, / I am a creature of the sea."  And another example, " I want as I have always wanted."

G.C. Waldrep in "Battery O'Rorke," comments on the misfortune of war and the strength of words.  His folk-like style and his Whitman-like sentence structure are combined to have a lasting emotional connection with the reader.

G.C. Waldrep is an esteemed poet and writer who has received recognition including the Flannery O'Connor award, the NEA grant, and the 2003 Colorado Prize for Poetry.  He currently teaches at Bucknell University.