Grandmother during the war
Turn to the afternoon sun, boys,
turn to the cobalt sky, but shield your faces
from the blast and smoke.
Your grandmother is planting sunflowers
early this year; three in each pot for luck.
The glass in her greenhouse is there for now.
Remember how you and your brother
measured sunflowers: who’d have the tallest
and win the larger piece of honey cake?
Turn to the afternoon sun, boys,
turn to the cobalt sky, but shield your faces
from the blast and smoke.
Your grandmother has pockets full
of seeds this year. She’s giving them away,
but they’re not bread and salt.
She’s cursing Russians soldiers
and eyeing their blood and bones
for soil to grow sunflowers.
Kate Noakes is a PhD student at the University of Reading researching contemporary British and American poetry. Her forthcoming eighth collection is Goldhawk Road from Two Rivers Press. She lives in London. Her website is www.boomslangpoetry.blogspot.com