Leinapaev by ProjectLono

A poem written and read by Bob Beagrie with music by SJ Forth, commemorating 'Leinpaev', Estonia's National Day of Mourning. First published as 'Enter Estonia 14 June' in Glass Characters (Red Squirrel Press 2011).

Leinapaev, 14 June
(i.m. Adres Ehen)

It is the national day of mourning.
Flags hang limp with the damp weight
of all those the Soviets killed and deported.
There are still wolves in the forest and lynx
and the trees stand singing folk songs
that run through their rings. Back then
everyone was a spy spying on the spies,
especially the lying spy inside. Now,
so few people, so many ghosts.
The anaesthetic of home is wearing off.
Seems where I am is where I'm not,
so we call into the supermarket
buy bottles of beer and wine, where
every shopper trails an ancestral spectre
like a reluctant toddler in their trolley's wake.
The basket on the arm of a queuing woman
at the check-out is brim-full with beating hearts.
I act as if I've seen it all before, though I haven't.
I act as if they're just a pile of sweet potatoes,
and the cashier is working for the Wolf.