Breaking news

Middle-class cocoon,

ironing,

listening to Radio 4.

‘Tsunami’,

she announced.

Curious word?

Distant tropical sea-bed

arched by subterranean quake,

water wall avalanche

erupts on halcyon shores,

wielding drowned destruction.

Unfathomable loss:

more women than men,

more children still.

Ship beached miles inland,

incongruous in memoriam.

Laundry stashed, fragrant,

in airing cupboard.

© Helen McIntosh

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