Samogon - Great Writing Creative Writing Community

Quicklinks:

Great Writing - Home > Poetry > Samogon

READING ROOM

Great Writing - Home

Read and review others' work

Articles on writing

Advice from the community

COMMUNITY

Talk to others in the forums

Events and Competitions

GW News

ABOUT GREAT WRITING

All About Us

WORK AWAITING REVIEW
This list is randomly generated from all our published works. No Men Pause, No Longer by Witzl The Music Box by silversnake Patience by Rattle_Spear Cocoon - revision by Gill21 Ruth by nicola Crimson Moon by andie THE CUCKOO'S TALE (SCREE... by Zarker New Zealand trip - May 1... by jean.day Not Waving but Shopping by Songster Plaster by Matthiasrising

GW IS...
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you can make new friends and improve your creative writing.

WHO'S ONLINE
We have 1199 guests online and 5 members online Robru chrismorton bobc solst patterjack

WHO'S ONLINE

Robru

chrismorton

bobc

solst

patterjack

Poetry


print friendly version
Samogon

By ellipinnock

13 March 2007

Can also be spelt 'samogen' - this piece came from an article I read on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6434789.stm

Heels hit the cobbles as she strides along,
attempting to ignore the cold street corner drunks
who loll and swear, the finest of St. Petersburg,
crawling out to buy a second shot of nothing,
moonshine glinting in the silence of the senseless.
The profit margin's small, so why not top it up?
They'll never know, those old, boozy reprobates.
So add a little something, fresh from scrubbing floors,
at ninety-five percent they'd like to drink it neat.
She shudders with the cold of all-too-recent nights.
She was too poor to buy the bottom of a glass,
crawling out to find a second shot of nothing.
She knows the hospitals are littered with comrades,
yellow-stained, two months down the line from her.

Reviews

grim
Written by patterjack (1159 comments posted) 12th March 2007

There but for the grace of god ....

Strong stuff Elli -- and i'll bet you do more with it !!

patterjack

Written by Phil (6645 comments posted) 12th March 2007

Looked at the BBC piece first.

Those first three lines really create an atmosphere. Brain's right. It is stroing stuff. Sad and effective. The inevitability of the last couple of lines make this.

Liked this a lot.

Phil.

brrr ...
Written by fellpony (1580 comments posted) 12th March 2007

nasty stuff, Elli. You have a talent for distilling (pardon the pun) unexpected material into raw spirit.

Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3298 comments posted) 12th March 2007

I had a similar experience with a bottle of Asda own brand sherry.There's two days I can't account for and we still haven't found the car.
Phil is right there is an awful inevitabilty about this; quite grim and unremitting.Very atmospheric almost Dickensian
Stong stuff
J

Written by ellipinnock (1753 comments posted) 13th March 2007

Thanks guys, I'm well chuffed given that this crept out all prosy the first time around and then bent itself into this funny almost sonnet, almost hexameter kind of weirdness :grin

Cheers

E

ps. Jane - I could have told you Asda own brand sherry wasn't a good idea! Sounds like you got off lightly :grin

Written by Talisker (1321 comments posted) 13th March 2007

Do they still use the word "comrades" these days?

Puts my drink problems into perspective. I've never been tempted into the kitchen closet for a quick shot of Zoflora - I s'pose I'd be Zo-floored if I did :grin

Good poem Elli. Its just the same with the powdery drugs, they cut it with talcum powder, scouring powder, anything to make up the grams and the bucks. Pushers, whether Asda or the street corner type, care not for the customer (victim).

Oli

Written by coosh (844 comments posted) 15th March 2007

Yep, also thought this was good, Elli, insofar as I know anything about poetry. There was a programme on it last night, funnily enough... interesting the way the reporter suddenly panicked at the notion that he might have drunk poison, given that he knew all the facts before he'd even tasted the stuff. An estimated 10,000 cases of poisoning, but no-one's to blame - the delights of the Russian legal system.

Only registered users can rate and write comments.
Please login or register.

Previous item		Next item