Rumour
from Half Life: poems for Chernobyl
Sudden as a gust across wheat
its dark sweeps the village.
And each ear fine-tuned to it.
As when a mid-afternoon all
at once darkens and worrying
towers over the barn. Cloud –
lined blue-black with squawks
it descends. All for the want
of a clear word. Even the ragged
man stood – head bowed among
crows in the field – sky ripping
its criss-cross sticks of light
through him. Even he will
split the stone in his chest.
With a fatal crack break
his silence.
its dark sweeps the village.
And each ear fine-tuned to it.
As when a mid-afternoon all
at once darkens and worrying
towers over the barn. Cloud –
lined blue-black with squawks
it descends. All for the want
of a clear word. Even the ragged
man stood – head bowed among
crows in the field – sky ripping
its criss-cross sticks of light
through him. Even he will
split the stone in his chest.
With a fatal crack break
his silence.
Mario Petrucci was recently appointed Radio 3's first ever poet-in-residence. His collections Heavy Water (Enitharmon) and Half Life (Heaventree Press) are published this year to mark the 18th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Excerpts from these 'sister' collections have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Verb and have won the 2002 Arvon/Daily Telegraph Prize.
Page(s) 73
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