Poem Of The Month: January 2012

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For January's Poem of the Month, I have chosen the poem Avalanche by Laurence James.

It is taken from his collection Deliquescence of Dust.

AVALANCHE

i.m. HC

A slag tidemark

halfway up the blackboard.

The shock of hair

white against the avalanche

saved one small boy.

The quick girl had crawled

under her desk,

her little finger pointing

through the inkwell.

She could not be consoled.

All her coloured pencils

forgotten in school.

(I am indebted to a BBC radio report on the Aberfan disaster of October 21 1966)

Copyright Text © Laurence James 2011

All rights reserved

The author has asserted her/his right under Section 77

of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988

to be identified as the author of this work.

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