DAVID HILL

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HARKER BACK

I must welcome the horrors I face.
I must will them again and again.
Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place,
From the glimpse which I got from the train.

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LYING STILL

After a few nights of
Going to sleep in the searing heat
Drunk on fine fruit spirits,
I found my sheets took on a strange smell:

A headier, purer,
Double-distilled potion filled my sweat.
Soon I'll be fermenting,
Be a reaction, be truly still.

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SIC

Trying not to be East European,
They mix their home-made red wine with Coke,
Wear Marlboro T-shirts under goat-skin jackets,
Follow up freshly-shot rabbit with Sara Lee gateau,
Listen to hip-hop and rap records
In their native language.

And on their walls, among
Red-and-white embroidered hangings
And icons painted on glass,
Are posters of Californian stars
Of rock music and TV action shows,
Who are trying not to be second-generation immigrants,
Not to be East European.