<\/p>\n
Granattrichter mit Blumen\u00a0(1924)<\/i><\/b><\/i>
\nafter an etching by Otto Dix<\/i><\/i>
\n\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Because he couldn\u2019t forget it eight years later
\nwe stand ten yards from that crater,
\nprevented from gazing into the heart:
\nhe blacked that in, held us back from it.<\/p>\n
\nAnd he recalled the background bare, but etched a chain
\nof full-grown wildflowers patting hands at the rim.
\nWe know they\u2019ve filled it all in, that ninety ploughs
\nhave dragged their fingers against his remembered grit.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sots Hole<\/i><\/b>
\n
\nHe forgets the Fenland hamlet where willows slumped at the dyke
\nand lapped from both ends, where a ten-year-old lad on a bike
\ncould get in an hour, without the grown-ups knowing,
\nand drink from a bike-bottle on the bank, the unfettered wind blowing
\nthe fronds in loops, and the parched fields spread like bread,
\nas flat as the sky, with the moorhens coming and going\u2026
\n
\nTwenty years later, to the day perhaps,
\nhe leads her to that bank, down that metalled cycle track
\nand takes her on a bench-rail, hid in a hide.
\nThe latch opens onto a world that couldn\u2019t worsen,
\nwhere willows comb the water and unseen mallards meander.
\nAnd she pulls him close \u2013 all he once knew he wanted.
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Heritage Centre<\/i><\/b>
\n
\n‘OPEN’ means almost empty, she finds. The heating gurgles;
\ntraffic slogs past, its groans now dulled by the windows and blinds.
\nShe steps to the faceless mannequins, tight in their dull-bright taffeta,
\nthen over to an oak-rimmed table cabinet, where she finds
\n
\na tersely-labelled miscellany of snuff boxes, gemstones, watches \u2013
\nand among it the dull wedding band her great-great-grandmother wore,
\nthough how could she know? She taps the glass. Her spectacled eyes flit over
\nit, and pretty much everything else, then draw her back to the door.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Granattrichter mit Blumen\u00a0(1924) after an etching by Otto Dix \u00a0 Because he couldn\u2019t forget it eight years later we stand ten yards from that crater, prevented from gazing into the heart: he blacked that in, held us back from it. And he recalled the background bare, but etched a chain of full-grown wildflowers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[298,299],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n