Except for the hedges (which imply some keptness), this could be an Australian pre-bushfire piece, Lawrence. Is there a reason all lines but the first are indented one letter space? And is the switch to present tense in the fifth line deliberate? I like 'That's many yards' which tells well of movement when your eyes want arrest.
On 28/02/2013, at 7:21 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> A burning wooden man leapt over
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> some kind of fence or hedge; and I saw him
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> as we drove past the fields. I took it in
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> but wanted to have more information
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> before I could say that I understand.
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> He was large, quite thin in proportion,
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> surfaces flame-blackened. Two large bushes
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> close up to the road stopped me seeing much
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> for a second or two. That's many yards.
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> When I could see again, he had dispersed
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> into shanty barricades, shadows
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> and things lying flat on the ground that men
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> walked over as they went about their work –
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> busy; numerous; and tiny, compared to him.
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> Half-visible kids freewheeled down fire hills,
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> fresh obstructions ending that episode.
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>
>
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