Friday 19 August 2011

Found poem: Shrewdness and Personal Assertion

In his account of what he considered the demoralisation of the 141st New York regiment during the American Civil War, a certain Lieutenant Colonel James Beecher composed the following list. It makes one of the most effective found poems I've seen in a while:
General orders are treated with evasion & sometimes contempt.

Shrewdness & personal assertion are cultivated -- prompt military deportment discouraged.

Deserters are replaced to boast among honest men.

Companies are excused from duty --

Gross disobediences are composed by personal interviews.

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