October 15, 2001
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A flag in conquered soil planted. People leaving, streaming from ancient homes with nothing but a blanket-wrapped bundle and a baby in their arms. Holes dug by mines and shrapnel beside the crawling roads. Survivors with tear tracks like caterpillar tank trails through the grime on their face trudge with their heads well down. A passing reporter hung with cables thrusts a microphone into faces like a hand-grenade and gets answered in silence, with wounded eyes, and turns away, and starts single-handedly turning the tables, spouting a package of well-rehearsed, convenient lies. Histories are written by the victorious. But graves fit equally well the men who died for either side; the same half open eyes gaze blankly from the far side of Hell, blood of the same colour different uniforms stains, beneath almost childish fair hair, reddish gray blood and brains. All the dead are just dead. Not glorious. July 1995 Ed.: We asked Hromic in what context had she written this poem. Her answer: "the Krajina. Knin. The ethnic cleansing operation which had 200,000 Serbs evicted from their homes in Croatia and sent to directions unknown." People have a short memory indeed... Alma Hromic, the author with R. A. Deckert of Letters from the Fire, was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. However she has lived outside her native country for much of her life: Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, the UK and New Zealand. Trained as a microbiologist, she spent some years running a scientific journal, and later worked as an editor for an international educational publisher. Her own publishing record includes her autobiography, Houses in Africa, The Dolphin's Daughter and Other Stories, a bestselling book of three fables published by Longman UK in 1995, as well as numerous pieces of short fiction and non-fiction. Her next novel, the first volume of a fantasy series, Changer of Days: The Oracle, is due out in September 2001 with Harper Collins. Recently, Hromic won the much coveted BBC online short story competition. Her story, The Painting, was broadcast in the UK in the last week of January 2001. Please, DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work without the expressed written authorization of Swans, which will seek permission from the author. This material is copyrighted, © Alma A. Hromic 2001. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. |
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This Week's Internal Links
What Would You do if You Were in Charge? - by Gilles d'Aymery
Sparrow - by Michael W. Stowell
10 Years to Peace - by Deck Deckert
I'm Against Terrorism: Now, If Only We Could Get Washington On Side - by Stephen Gowans
Preface: Bingo! Simplicity Itself; Oligarchy - by Milo Clark
Back to Basics on the Way to Going Ahead - by Milo Clark
The Presidential Speech - by Milo Clark
Afterword: Function of Failures - by Milo Clark
Suggestions for Concrete Actions - by Jeff Lindemyer
Change the Education Paradigm - by Philip Greenspan
Wisdom and Compassion Need to Become Action - by Andreas Toupadakis
The Media Marches off to War - by Deck Deckert
A Day in Kafka Land - by Alma A. Hromic
Civil Disobedience (1849) - by Henry David Thoreau
Alma Hromic's Commentaries on Swans
This is an Emotional Argument (July 2001)
Letter From My Father (June 2001)
They Change Their Sky (May 2001)
Year Two, P.K. (March 2001)
Letter to my Unborn Child (February 2001)
On the Anniversary (September 2000)
Subject: Into Myth (September 2000)
Sadness in Novi Sad, Serbia (April 2000)