One day, after sunrise – in the time before
the ice sheets began to melt – a girl
or a boy, about twelve, carrying
an infant, walked quickly south with long strides,
stopping once to let the infant walk briefly.
At some point a woolly mammoth crossed their tracks,
and a giant sloth paused to sniff the air.
Later the young person walked back north alone.
The muddy footprints fossilised – some ten
millennia ago. The big beasts went,
HINDSIGHT
A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
ON FIRST READING ‘THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO’
A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
BIRTHDAY GIRL UNDER HOUSE ARREST