Glenn Hubbard lives in Newcastle. He began writing in 2013 and has had work published in a variety of journals including Stand, Strix, and London Grip. Although it may not always be obvious, he owes a great deal to the poetry of R.F. Langley.
PHOTO OF A HOWITZER FIRING IN UKRAINE
Houfnice.
Used by the Hussites
in pre-Reformation days.
Fired into Catholic cavalry
to make mounted horses shy
knights in armour fly.
Not nice.
Houf
is a crowd. But for this
pronouncement just five.
Three crouch, eyes cast down
ears covered as if fearing
the report, like a judgement.
Another kneels in attendance,
awaiting the fatal determination.
Uff!
The last looks on
awed by the bright yellow rorschach blot
blooming in the grey sky.
He may be praying, die Hoffnung:
that many will die; a thousand,
in Haufen, heaps of them.
Though they too are cherished
by mothers with prayer ropes,
their hands tied.
Hussites: Czech proto-Protestant Christians
Houfnice (Czech): A cannon used by the Hussites during the war (1419-1434) against Catholic forces.
Houf (Czech): A crowd
(die) Hoffnung (German): (the) hope
Haufen (German): piles, heaps
Glenn Hubbard
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