Reflections on 22 August, 1991 – Lynn Hard

[1938–current, born America, migrated to Australia in 1977]

Friends,
names,
die:
the members of the cast
are thinned

old movies
we haven’t seen in years,
disappoint

items
we’ve bought since we can remember
are no longer
stocked

and life
is a steady downpour.

except,
in the USSR
where there’s hardly enough room in squares
to stand,
to affirm
that the unknown is half-full
that the people have a right to their space
even if it’s shared with tanks,
that disillusion must be preceded
by illusion
and that is our most foreign and precious substance.

Source: Hard, L 1993, Dancing on the Drainboard, Angus & Robertson, Australia, p. 4.