Its Words Must Have Been Impressive
abandoned battery: Cromarty
Knotbrook Taylor
first they built a tower of words
using defence and freedom
big words
abstract words
words travelled in the form of
paper and electrical impulses
orders for actions
then they used real words
like concrete and canon
and something physical took shape
its words then must have been impressive
and all pointed out to sea
one word was only ever whispered
invasion was, as it happened
not in their dictionary
the guns never spoke
now temporal words
the big words are gone
and the real words have been dismantled
scrapped and swapped for fiscal words
all that remains are the ghosts of words
spoken between soldiers
and a natural order of words
rust
lichen
weather
Published in riverrun
Issue 3, 2002
(Dundee Writers' Group)
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