Sport 6: Autumn 1991
2
2.
On the train to Warsaw
a Polish man asks
if I have ever been to
Salt Lake City, Utah
page 29
he just wondered
and had I noticed that
the phrase book omitted
the most important phrase
of all—Excuse me—'now
isn't that extraordinary'.
*
At the station everyone
speaks Polish or
German. Three older people
use sign language
an arm curves five
fingers a tongue
his mouth opens wide
for train or come
or later you can only
guess and her hand slices
air as cake— you the
uninvited member of
the party.
*
Churches where
the bones of saints rest
in loose arrangement
—knuckle to toe—
and two streets over
Chopin's heart lies
beating time
to the streets
of Warsaw.
*
page 30
Poland
Where an ankle
is a pear and you
will queue hours
for it.
*
Pilgrims Regulations
of the Groups '17'
in the Warsaw Pilgrimage
to Jasna Gora:
Anyone who seeks the Truth
can become a Pilgrim.
Anyone who:
Follows the aims of the
Warsaw Pilgrimage—
inner transformation,
a personal meeting and
union with Christ and
his mother through God's
Word, penance and
prayer, in the Eucharist.
Has registered for the
Pilgrimage, has got the
sticker and the programme map
of the Pilgrimage route.
Rules:
Women and men must not stay
at night together in one
place, especially in
tents.
A Pilgrim needs to have:
his/her documents,
a few sets of underwear
two pairs of comfortable shoes
that fit well, a sleeping bag,
a tent, a rain-proof
coat, toilet articles, dry
rations—canned food as well
as the Bible, a rosary, a
Pilgrim's song-book, a prayer
book. Pilgrims should have no
valuable articles.
Each Pilgrim should have at least
four bandages and an
elastic one,a plaster, a
bottle of salicilic spirit
a pot of cream as well as
talcum powder or powder for
feet and any medication used
daily by the Pilgrim. The
Pilgrimage Health Service
is at work during the walk
and at lodging places.
*
In the carriage is a group of
Spanish men and one Pole. They
have been to Russia. One
of the Spanish men has been
to New Zealand and swum in
Oriental Bay. It is a very
beautiful country he says.
Yes yes you say, but
you are looking out the
window for a man who earlier
jumped off the speeding train after
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an argument with the guard. I
flew up and over Mount
Cook he continues yes
you say and turn to him and
never see the body or
shape of the man pressed
flat as a country in a
sea of grass.