Syndicate: Saraevo

[mike stubbs <stubbs@easynet.co.uk>]

i knew nothing
a bystander to a violent crime
motionless in front of the tv 4 years previous
looked like a real war - but wasnt this the place people went on holiday ?
wasnt this the palce with the winter olympics ?
i put 2 pound coins in a paper envelope with printed images of thin children
i put clothes no longer fashionable in a thin blue polythene bag on my doorstep
someone took them away
stangers arrived in hull - yugoslavian refugees - bosnia - wheres that ?
some part time work was available for english teaching to unemployed
students - my friends did it
Iv'e seen all the wars - on tv
i watched the gulf war too - my country got more involved in that one - not
because of the oil -  but because evil saddam hussein killed kurds
'our boys' were frustrated in bosnia - they didnt know who was fighting who
or why
and now i pull back the curtains a visitor to the city
why is that building black ?
why has it no windows ?
what are those holes in its face and side ?
what are those bigger wholes on the other face ?
pox marked buildings bullet ridden - a widespread disease
nicely textured and durable to the weather
this open air hospital
those hills look familiar
last time i saw them they were on television with live ammunition emitting
from the cathode ray
and now i meet people who survived - lived - danced in the all nighter
they made art - when sometimes i couldnt be bothered to pick up the camera
and went down the pub
those people who are energised and crazy
at 16 in a trench
at 16 carrying water 10 kilometers
at 16 planting mines
at 16 carrying wood for the fire 15 kilometres in the hard winter
at 21 making mines safe
at 21 showing their videos at a media festival
and i show my films and i show a programme of new british video with them
one is about a local community in east london who dont want to move
it shows their houses being knocked down and they recall how long they
lived there
it is set to music and very beautiful
one is about a man scratching 'between us' into his girlfriends back with a
fingernail
it is in a series called no pain no gain
the wheelchair outside my apartment never moves
some people look vacant
some hobble
a large american is showing off and talking business
at $15,000 per month playing tanks and international affairs
i scabble around listening for clues
i cross a bridge - a famous bridge with flowers
i walk the city and inflame my fallen arch
i smell stale burning
i judge the local films
i am offered a drink by an old man from a black plastic bag
i see a man with half his face bleeding
i see no eye
i fear my sentimental tear
and now i look back over the holiday snaps
and follow up the friendships and contacts made

Mike Stubbs
102 Blenheim st
Hull
HU5 3PS
tel/fx; 44 (0)1482 492172

http://www.pva-org.demon.co.uk/mike.html
http://www.pulsemag.demon.co.uk/mike.htm

DUN IT