Chilwell Girls

by Roger West

Yellowing slowly into the pages of history
canary girls sunless and songless
all day long they pour nitroglycerin powder
into bombs and bullets
hazed and dazed in sulphuric fog
vasodilating amongst priapic shell casings
decarbonated and over-oxygenated
into electrostatic ecstasy

the yellow fever of combat
the creeping jaundice of war

Copyright © 2020 Roger West