Landscapes with Buses
On both sides of the frontline,
people buy and sell goods,
occupy central squares
and the shops are open.
Buses run on schedule.
Business as usual. Until noon.
Fewer and fewer civilians
in this remote, other town,
gunshots, grenades, mortars.
Stray dogs come out of houses
with blown-up windows.
The war has ceased to be
the front-page news.
Maria Stadnicka is a writer, journalist www.mariastadnicka.com Twitter: @MariaStadnicka. Imperfect (2017) Yew Tree Press, UK, The Unmoving, (2018) Broken Sleep Books, UK Uranium Bullets (2019) Cervena Barva Press, US.