Summary

The poem “Native Guard” is divided into 10 sections, with each section titled with a month and/or year, ranging from November 1862 to 1865. Overall, the poem follows a speaker who is a member of the Native Guard, a regiment of black former slaves who were freed and enlisted by the Union army to fight on their behalf during the Civil War. One of the guard’s main responsibilities was to keep watch over Confederate prisoners of war. The narrative tracks the speaker from early on in their enlistment and follows them as they experience the hardships and hollow rewards of a war they were freed solely to fight in. “Still, we’re called supply units -/not infantry - and so we dig trenches,/haul burdens for the army no less heavy/than before” the speaker says (25).

Throughout the poem, the concept of writing...