Small Soldiers Poem by Jay Alexander

Step out, South Ken,
Wet night, boutiques,
Bars crackle on
Pavements;
Colour swathed,
Am outside yet in.
Above, shadows
Move across theatres
Of living rooms,
Apartments gleam like
Mosaics, set for dinner;
On through suburbia,
Tip-tap between streetlights,
Windows, black stains,
Broken by images
From flickering TV's…..

Soon it's countryside;
Rolling brown hills,
Full moon, eclipsed behind
Restless clouds;
Scattered farmhouses,
Sleepy, but for
Bric and brac of
Muddy machinery…

Cross a bridge,
Frenetic river racing below;
Transition…..
Landscape in hazy morning
Slips from green to gold.
Straight dusty road cuts
A windy plain,
Brush rolled into balls,
Collide with cacti,
Crash against acacias….

Start jog,
Relaxed,
Soon hit 100 kmph,
200,400,600….
Feeling good;
If spotted
Am just a blur,
Yet someone is
Taking potshots,
Ground around
Erupts, big and
Small bursts,
Ahead a tank,
Change direction,
Swing round
Lob a grenade
Down the barrel,
Big flash,
Turret flies through
The air……..

Slow down,
Decelerate,
Enter a carcass
Of a village,
Houses smouldering
Mangled corpses,
Scattered like seeds;
Sinks in….

This is a
Cross-roads,
Here ideas must
Or must not pass.
The wind rises;
Through the dust,
Forms like black pins
Carry black flags,
Move towards me,
I face them….
The valley reverberates
As I call out:
You can try and
Frighten us,
Kill us,
Yet we have no fear,
No fear………