Max Slevogt, ‘Shellfire,’ 1917, by Jonathan Taylor

Shellfire, by Max Slevogt (Germany), 1917.

Max Slevogt, ‘Shellfire,’ 1917
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​The ballistic undead sit astride 
shells like bucking broncos.
It’s a helluva ride, back and forth, 
barbed wire, no man’s land far below.

They wave skeletally as they pass
one another, bare rotten teeth,
heading toward different trenches, 
imminent corpses

who’ll join them on the return flight
until no-one’s left standing down there, 
until everyone’s up, up in the air 

laughing.

Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor is an author, lecturer and critic from the UK. His books include the novel Melissa (Salt, 2015), and the poetry collection Musicolepsy (Shoestring, 2013). He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. His website is www.jonathanptaylor.co.uk.