Munitionette

For English we read "Regeneration" by Pat Barker. It follows the lives of patients at Craiglockhart, a war hospital during WWI. Oe of the main characters is a soldier named Billy Prior, who falls in love with a munitions worker (munitionette) Sarah Lumb. Their relationship is incredibly complex; Billy seems utterly fascinated by Sarah's willfulness and independence, but at the same time seems to despise her. Sometimes he wants to hurt her emotionally, because he feels as if she owes something to him. He projects all of the resentment he feels towards civilians and women onto Sarah. In the end though, he admits how he feels.

Munitionette.

She,

glittering like streetlamps, yellow

of  her skin, knocking them back

hand on her chin

Bold,

like glaring sunlight, beating

of her heart, so much life

within her

 

She,

of the world behind

the glass, so rippled and he ensnared

by the writhing Dead

Cold,

are the arms that tenderly try

to snuff out the joy

within her