Nineteen-fifteen silk postcard
hand embroidered flowers
and greeting
To dearest Mother on your birthday.
Pencilled message
‘Out with my pals
got this
hope you like it.
Love from Tommy.’

Shells scream, ears sing;
stars silent.

Nineteen-sixteen silk postcard
pink wild roses
leaves fresh green
From your loving son.
‘I’m all right but
CENSORED
Love from Tommy.’

Lice, rats, barbed wire, entrails, putrid water
scum, slime;
itching, scratching, retching, thirsty.

Nineteen-sixteen silk postcard
fir trees
holly, mistletoe
Happy Christmas to my mother.
‘They said we’ll get some Christmas dinner.
Love from Tommy.’

Stacked corpses trampled
tree stumps jagged
bleached bones broken
in foetid cesspit, crying murder.

Nineteen-seventeen silk postcard
fleur-de-lys
Je pense à toi.
‘Somebody told me it means
I’m thinking of you.
Love from Tommy.’

‘Stand-to!’

Machine guns
d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d

TELEGRAM
REGRET TO INFORM YOU

Silk postcard
hand embroidered cornflowers, poppies
Flowers of Flanders.
Pencilled message
‘These flowers grow in churned up ground.
Love from Tommy.’