Wednesday, 1 October 2025

1st October 2025



jui-jitsu training

I pass on some helpful tips

happy sensei


© Rachel Green October 2025


Newcastle May 3rd 1982


Resident halls for degree level students

a mixture of disciplines and mostly men

or boys, to be fair, with most of us prudent

to minimise problems with settling in.

Almost a year and like sleep-deprived bears

we are revising for ends and exams

when Lino* comes up from the flat downstairs

with a portable TV in the kitchen he slams.

The black-and-white flickering shows us a ship

that sinks in Atlantic cold water

the General Belgrano has been sunk with a flip

by the Lady of Iron with some torpedo slaughter.

 Terrified students struck silent with shock

 as the second hand ticks on the Third World War clock.


© Rachel Green October 2025


*I honestly can't remember his real name, but he was a Law student.**

** His friends called him Lino because he was always on the floor.


 

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