NBH is New Broadcasting House, where from August-December 2013 I wrote stories for BBC Radio News. I also like the way the letters resonate with GBH - which English readers will know stands for Grievous Bodily Harm - the name of a violent offence in English law.
This poem relates to incidents in the Gaza Strip (2002), Baghdad (2006) and the trial of two men accused of killing Lee Rigby, an off-duty soldier killed outside his barracks in south east London in May 2013.
by Patrick Howse08 Dec 2013
Playful stones thrown
By small children
Bounce harmlessly
Off our backs.
Now bullets skip
In the ruins
Of the freshly
Flattened homes;
And a tree stands
Alone among the
Concrete Rubble,
Growing green.
* * * *
I'm running by the river
That watered Eden;
Its reeds whisper
Of Babylon.
A body is dragged up the
Stone embankment;
It leaves a wet
Brown stain behind;
It stares to heaven, looking
In vain for mercy,
A round hole drilled
In its forehead.
* * * *
Hour after hour I find
New ways to say
The soldier’s head
Was hacked off.