‘I Remember Only Scenes’

a live chicken to hold

the forest along the road

yellow stars on the chest

discarded objects of the desperate

three policemen looking at me

three days and three nights on folding chairs

baked beans served in sardine tins

washing at a tap beside the latrines

a girl I knew lying in excrement

a German soldier with my name in his mouth

speech after speech

hurling potatoes at police

standing up to be counted

gigantic shadows of the people

a young woman with long blonde hair, her son beside

the feel of my mother and sisters in the one bed

mother’s letter, I push through wooden slats onto the platform

mother’s cushion – I still have this – with geese on it

pink bottle of dentifrice

papiere, papiere! et un hasard extraordinaire

wheels on a country road

and people stare at us from behind barbed wire