AS THE BOMBS FELL A CHILD IS BORN.
A TRUE STORY
BY JUDE KYRIE

The night I was born the air was filled with the acrid odors of cordite and fire. Even the charred blossoms of the out of place cherry tree in the dark inner city gadens lost their sweet fragrance,
It was 1942 the war raged on like the four horsemen wanted it too.
Bombers of the Luftwaffe decided to obliterate our home at that moment.
Manchester was on fire and my first breaths were made of its deadly acrid smoke.
Inside the small row house beneath its humble living quarters we were sheltered under the cellar stairs.
My heavily pregnant mother and three older sisters clung to each other tightly as the roar of hate and violence crescendoed above the small house.
Somehow even in the darkened days of hopeless war I had been conceived in defiance of all the  hate a small flickering candle of love burning brightly in the darkness.
Missing from the house were my six older brothers who were away fighting in distant lands in the royal marines.
Also missing , my father who had served his country in the first world war. Now he walked in the darkened blackout of a Manchester on fire.
His job to watch for injured people he was  now too old to serve in any other way.
The bomb whistled as It fell from the sky its whining harbinger of death and destruction a precursor to its death knell of explosion a few moments later.
A cat oblivious to war and destruction watched the scene from beneath a stoop. The fires from the detonated TNT reflected in its wide green eyes.
The sound of our best friend the very air that we breathe to live being compressed into a weapon that would try to destroy us.
the blast wall of compression hit the structure of our house causing the supporting walls to fall inward and slowly to bury us alive in our cellar refuge,

My father at that very moment stood in front of the old catholic church of which he was a member with nine children as proof and soon to be ten.
The nave was on fire even gods house was not spared this night.

Father O'Brien appeared at the door of his beloved church in his arms in a long white smock was his altar boy he did not move nor would he ever again.
Tears flowed down the face of the old Irish priest. God has forsaken us Frank he cried to my father.

And together they walked in the mayhem of war.
As they reached our street my father saw his house destroyed and
His heart sank the priest last lament ringing in his ears.
A crowd of neighbours were pulling at the rubble. Mixed with plaster bricks a broken dish, a picture, a *** now so dented almost unrecognizable.
For hours they pulled and worked to reach the cellar.then finally they got there.
Under the cellar steps inside the gloom of blackened night we were all there covered in dirt and grime. Yet alive in defiance of the grim reaper increased by one more,
my mother held me to her breast to nurture her new child her seventh son.

My father wept as we were lifted out one by one.
He held me close to his heart covering me with his coat.
My mother kissed him and said
Oh Frank we have lost everything.
He touched her hair softly and said.
That's not true Mary love,
I just found everything I ever wanted.

across the yard a cat sat watching the fires in its eyes extinguished
and the scene of a happy reunion reflected in its place with the promise of happier times to come.

ferskenfarvet
skrattende
over os er himmelen kongeblå og pyntet med stjerner, med vidundere, med vidner til dette
rundt
kirsebær-rød
blødt og varmt gulvtæppe
sen-septemberens luft
lyde, mennesker
åbent vindue som en varm invitation til gadens liv  
intet er for meget eller for lidt
lige præcis tilpas, balanceret, roligt men spændende
komfortabelt men udfordrende
voksende følelse, lysende, brændende - men let
lavendel
ingen tårer; tunge, skamfyldte, drænende
kun et let smil
fyrfadslys
cremefarvet og fjerlet latter
rosmarin
lykkelig stilhed
poetisk øjeblik, stilnet samtale
citrongræs
smuk og stilfærdig fortællerform; ydmyg
inspirationen ligger så tæt i rummet at dug former sig på ruden
og tanker i hovederne
og samtaler der flyder sammen og fletter sig til ét forhold; én tanke
et ideal
sommerfugle-flagrende øjenvipper
morgenfruer
vi ligger på gulvet
en brise af brænde-røg
pladespilleren kører, dæmpet, upåtrængende
dyb vejrtrækning
vi føler os okay
ferskner

et persoligt *** kontra et privat ***
dramatiserende effekt; pilfingret
højrøstet
at kaste ord op i luften og krydse fingre for, at de lander
  i en meningsfuld enhed
et solidt grundlag, en grundlæggende spørgsmål
irettesættelse og tvivlsommelighed
en helt er opbygget af oldtidens sten, tårer og menneskelige idealer
heltemod er et koncept; udødeligt og uopnåeligt
bølgerne vasker glasskår op på stranden, fremviser resultatet af et fler-årigt tilfældigt slibe-arbejde
glassets kanter slides langsomt ned og bliver omdannet
til noget mere appellerende, noget man ønsker at røre
så rundt og blødt at det føles forkert
så modificeret fra gadens skarpe skår at det er uundgåeligt at samle op
som en hånd der konstant flytter sig til et uvelkomment område, kradser skorpen af et nyligt helet sår
tiltrækningskraft
bølgen bærer gaver
vi smider skadelige genstande i havet,
men havet returnerer det menneskevenligt; kanteløst
en fjer daler langsomt men rammer også bunden

*** kiggede
på morgensolen
der stod op.
hendes små fingerspidser
der forsigtigt kørte
over gardinet
som hans hænder havde strøget
over hendes fine porcelæns hud
i gårsdagens virvar.
folk der slentrede
ad gadens stræder.
de synes hver og en
at have noget forskelligt at fortælle
om livets mange gåder.
*** lukkede sine glasøjne
og tænkte blot
på kærlighed og bløde læber

Sammenlagt har jeg nok brugt flere måneder på
at findes i regnen
taget imod de åbne slusers indhold
som var de en nyåbnet chipspose
man ikke kan lade være med at æde
når først man er begyndt.
Begynder mine mange dage med at gnide
sandet ud af øjnene
fordi jeg glemmer at lukke dem i mine
drømme
under min hud er der tilkalkede badekar
fyldt med antikvariater
finder et minde frem på reol fire
åh hvor det føles fint
at være den sidste farve tilbage
på jorden
ingen kender mig som fortovets tørre pletter
efter gadens travlhed er skyllet bort
fodsporene gemt væk i afløbet.
Der står jeg tilbage
som en nydelig udstilling
plaskvåd af jordens ånde
dueblå og dynamisk
svøbt i københavns gardiner