A dendrological reaction to National Socialism by Ben Ray

 


 

Ben Ray is a rising young poet from the Welsh borders whose writing is ‘story-telling, risk-taking and exact in all the right ways’ (Fiona Sampson). His second collection, What I heard on the Last Cassette Player in the World, is scheduled for release with Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2019.

www.benray.co.uk

 

 

 

 

A dendrological reaction to National Socialism

 


 

As the Tirpitz moves along the Norwegian coast

it sprays chlorosulphuric acid to create a concealing fog.

The chemicals will stunt tree growth in these fjords

and spectral dendrologists of the future

will be able to track the ship’s secretive route.

If there is a metaphor here, it will somehow be lost to history

hidden amongst twisted pines on the shoreline

lost between       the spaces       of their rings

 

Ben Ray

stories

poems