Found Poem of Loss

Found Poem of Loss

Festival of remembrance
an
odd word
                   7,200: Total number of British troops currently stationed in Iraq
on the stroke of 11
Peter
will be standing
in  Tesco
with a trayful of poppies
he will pause
bow his head
remember
his dead son.
                   121: Total number of British soldiers killed
109 miles away
Pam will put down her scissors
in the hairdressing salon
and think
of her son
just returned to Basra
on his second tour of Iraq.
                   273: Wounded in action, to September 2006                    
in London
at the Cenotaph
Rose Gentle
will be standing
in memory
Of son Gordon
Age 19.
On June 28th
Mrs Gentle turned on the TV,
saw the body
of a soldier who died.
It was Gordon
                   9: Number of teenagers among the casualties
Pauline
will be at the memorial
on South View Road.
Her son
Christian
became the first
to be carved
on the memorial
since
the
First
World
War
                   28: Average age of British service people killed
Eddie and his wife
will be at the church in Wigan
where they will
bury Jamie, 19,
shot and killed
on Monday
                   21: Possible suicides among the casualties

and so
at Armistice commemorations
                   44: Number of British women widowed by the conflict
and on
Remembrance Sunday
                   2: Number of British women soldiers killed
millions will pause
for two minutes
                   74: Number of British children who have lost parents
arbitrary
silence,
our only response
to such wasteful loss.

www.guardian.co.uk 12/11/06