Response to Curtis Mize's "Onward"

My dad was a super Civil War buff, so I got this right off the bat, although I'm sure someone unacquainted with civil war history would be able to easily figure out the subject matter as well (considering the bayonets, Virginia, etc.). In this way it was very clear what we were reading. Curt's poem is full of typical battlefield images, but he manages to keep them from being too played out by using very unique language to describe the scenes, such as, "nameless meat piled to absorb / searing lead meant for another." Still, maybe he could have described a few things that we usually wouldn't think of on a battlefield, or maybe something that would have made the scene more quintessentially "civil-war" or Irish. The imagery of "the field is more / bodies than grass / blood than dirt" was very effective in illustrating the horrible massacre, and I feel like the line breaks here also help chop up the image in such a way that makes it more effective. It was good how there was a sort of shift in the tone as the poem progressed. Initially, with the angrily snapping satin standard (Words not in this order, but I liked these two lines for their alliteration and consonance) the Irish seem proud, wrathful, and intimidating, but they come to be cowering behind a wall being picked off one by one. I think when Curtis speaks of the "fresh ice through frozen veins" he means the Irish are scared, but one could easily interpret them as being cool and fearless. Overall, I liked the poem, but maybe a little more description of unique battlefield images is in order.