Poetry of the first world war in place in cold November, casting of absent drums

 

 

 

 

 

 

since it is   that time of year again    here is  my  1994  first world war poem   Absent Drums

 written for the  80th anniversary   this is  old lesser  stuff    for me   and  as usual at the time   failed to gain acceptance  from the  poetry review  editorial board  as  it was  too mocking     of the  soldier war poets 

 

 

I stumbled across a war Poet, in place in cold November

finding blank pictures  brief notices.

I saw falling soldiers, attention to line

 

I wanted to meet  the author of those days

 know I didn't have to speak to him,

all dead and  awaking from unusual dreams.

Heavy with burst  balloon face,

eyes like a day in childhood ,blurred and pastel.

Alive  and hopeless,  St George and the Dragon- monster still breathing.

He had time to shit himself, this shows a lack of imagination.

 

He tells me nothing !,

has empty pockets.

a girl shares his photograph,

holding her so close you could smell the paper she was made of.

a lover was here, the lips don't move, kiss dried worms in fresh roses.

 

Face down in grey waters, a rising  and dying god, empty of soul.

war poet apart shows a lack of simile,

he simply  stinks and rots , glimmering.

I envy his insight, to find death before sleep, death in forgotten places,

 know the experience  continue to write.

 

I read the War Verses:

 dead boys alive,

buried flag and still wind in voices.

 

I read the  war verses:

casting of absent drums,

echo of nameless trumpets

 

This warrior of Empire farewell , recited soldier out of place with his poems of Christian failure and dying no death.

bitter clichés of pale angels and Englishmen,

brambles in Khaki mouldering.

 

We shall only forget them

make better slaughter of the years, remain all visual.

compose new words for hymnal apocalypse.

 

MARK  LITTLER "absent drums 1994

 

An All colour Children's Book of Nuclear Weapons

 

 

 

I  must  that admit  growing up   in cheshire with no nearby  military  bases   the Cold war   passed me   by   and  I never wrote any cold war  bang ho  Thatcher   poems

In the 1970s  all I  really understood of  the  superpowers cold  conflict    was  watching  Ice Station Zebra   and    the only  Atomic  missile  I remember  seeing launched a  was  the Thal  Rocket used to destroy the Kaled   City Dome    in the  Dr Who  story   "The  Genesis of  the Daleks "

 

In the 1980s  it was   "the  Yankee   Capitalist gangsters   and  their  Reactionary NATO Running dogs  trying to subvert  the  Peace Loving  Soviet peoples"  or at least that is  what  The  BBC news told you

and in the 1990s  it was all over  like  an axed TV soap opera

 

Think of  how much  money was spend  from the   bomb   testing days  of  the early 1950s   through    to the cutting up of really expensive  missiles   in the 1990s

 

 How part of  everyday life  it was so that   in  many of the  children's books  Nuclear weapons  were   part of  Spotters  and I spy guides     with   the   good on  our side bright   magazine   colours  of the  X wing  fighter USAF   jets called Thunderchief  or  Phantom   contrasted against  a  mainly blurred  photo and  funny NATO code named ( Fagot,  Fishpot, Fresno, Fiddler , Fishbed ) Soviet Air force

 Nuclear weapons like  coca cola were USA all the way   and   you could never find the technical specifications of a  Soviet Missile  to play top trumps with  -   ie  Skrean  Soviet   ICBM   height  ?  weight ?  payload ?  range ?

 

Even the UK  had its own  little  nuclear   weapons    as illustrated in  books spotter  guides of the  time   although  the  British  IRBM Blue  Streak had failed  years before  and  US Skybolt  was cancelled  before purchase   the RAF still had loads of easy to model in   white plasticine   delta winged   rocket  bomb carrying  V bombers that  were replaced  well before   the time of the Thal attack by   a whole fleet of   Polaris  submarines all with names  beginning with  R.

 

For anyone interested  in  technical  top trumps  Blue Steel illustrated  above was  35 ft long  wingspan 13ft  and  "was a winged bomb   designed  to  be launched   while its carrier  aircraft  was  some distance away  from  the target   out of range of the  targets  defences."

 

 It was  always true of  all colour  books of  nuclear weapons that   the all  colour  illustrated  Blue Steel,  Titan II,  Polaris Nike Hercules   and   Thor    only ever  attacked "Targets"  never  the  citizens of the Soviet  Union  and to show  the real  an atomic bomb  for everything  ludicrousness of the  Cold war     Nike Hercules  and Genie   were  nuclear  armed anti aircraft  missiles  and  as weapons of war   appeared up there alongside   the   Nuclear armed  cyclist  pitching his  Atomic  grenade