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These Czech lands, 1936

entry picture

 

The abiding Jan Hus

with all those Hussites burnt at the stake,

for believing, 

differently.

 

Fireworks, like blood red poppies,

explode like a nebula of stars;

a tang of smoke clings to our clothes

as the veneer of history swirls into 

mists ….. hordes of Turks, Mongols

Russians and now these bloody Prussians.

 

Braziers, chestnuts, mufflers, gloved velvet revolutions

beget a tug of war ‘twixt a veiled now and a hidden then

as we head into the ice-wind off the frozen Danube.

 

Icicle sparks spread through the very air,

flare into lighted cigarettes, candles mingle with the whiff of beer,

mulled wine: people alive through this very last November,

silent going away parties fill the corners of so many empty rooms.

◄ Somehow, there's blue

Hancock's Half Hour ►

Comments

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John Marks

Mon 28th Jun 2021 18:00


Thank you Greg, Ray and Stephen G. I am very trying!

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raypool

Mon 28th Jun 2021 17:02

In your inimitable way you draw such strong images of shifting social sands John, and I felt this drew me in like the warmth of a fire, in contrast to the cold around. As an aside, I have discovered there was a Bielefeld on my mother's side ( died 1896, and I have a complete record of a family who came from the town of the same name which originally was in Prussia, so you have reminded me of that! I've no idea if there is a Jewish origin but one did rise well to be a famous producer of papier mache ornamentation from London. (Charles Bielefeld if looking online.

All the best to you Ray

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