Poem inspired by abstract painting/print taken to be a war scene and re-imagined as a visit to the Imperial War Museum, London, during Armistice week. Tribute to family members who served and to those killed, wounded and pyschologically affected by war.
Trafalgar, Gallipoli, Jutland, Falklands,
Blood-soaked sheer limestone clifftops,
Acrid cordite, high-explosives stench,
Burnt-out machine gun posts, search-
Lights; improvised slit trenches minimal
Protection against dive-bomber, fighter attack.
Jolting, percussive impact of artillery
Bombardment – overloaded landing craft, soldiers
Vomiting in stormy turmoil under leaden skies.
Lone paratrooper breaks cover, advances on
Argentine position on Mount Tumbledown.
Shell-hole craters, poison gas spreading amid
The chaos, confusion and noisy racket of war.
I study the abstract war painting and remember
Family members – served in WW1, Merchant Navy,
Normandy, Burma, Aden and pay due respect.
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