Enough of this man, enough of Corporal Olaf, I want peace today, to come out from the bunker during the carpet bombing, sit down to lunch at a table in Argyle Street and order a starter and a main. I'll have a long lunch of spaghetti bolognese and something sweet for dessert. The corpses will lie around me like children sleeping in the warm summer grass after water fights and too much sun. I'll have just enough time to finish my rice pudding and swab my mouth with a napkin. Hopefully, with no one left, and having avoided sentry duty, I can go for a night on the town, sink a few beers down to celebrate the good life.
7 comments:
The poem and the title don’t really work together for me. I think it’s the ‘steaming corpses’ that ruins it. I can’t see anyone playing football while their buddies were unattended on either side. That said I don’t actually think you’re describing the Xmas 1914 truce here; I suspect you’re using it as a metaphor of wishful thinking maybe. The word ‘citizens’ also throws me. It’s an odd word for a British soldier to use. For some reason the ‘mango juice’ didn’t upset me but I never tasted mango juice till I was a grown man – it’s certainly not a taste I’d associate with childhood.
God Jim, sounded like you had a terrible time reading it.
The title works for me. It's a shit little piece of absurdity.
I'm posting before this disappears!
I actually feel rather like this at the moment, and am Glasgow-bound tomorrow. And will be pretending to be perfect.
Hi titus = I won't be deleting this. I'm happy with it. Made some changes. What you doing in Glasgow?
Jim - Made some changes as you will see. Truth is, I put mango because it was the first fruit that came to mind, and to be honest, it had nothing to do with childhood association, I just wanted a less common fruit, a summer frui, a colourful fruit. Orange juice is so typical. Would a mango hurt?
And as for the football truce, I simply wanted to bring in the association, the horror of war and human seriousness, then the ability to play a game of football or just have a laugh. All this is compounded in the insane notion of having a meal during war and pretending the dead corpses are your children. compounding serious and humour to a sick effect. well...so I hope.
You've gone all anonymous!
Team-meeting followed by Christmas Lunch at a set table, of course. And we have several smoking corpses after a significant re-structuring.
Strange, not sure how I managed that...I am very confusing.
Better.
Post a Comment