THIS IS A YEAR WHICH WILL BE SPOKEN OF

Joyce Juyi Yan

This is a year which will be spoken of

Runners ride on new errands, to petrol stations

I walk slowly, for I have patience.

Prigozhin, 62, showed me a sack of burnt ryes

Tangy now, god is sourdough in his expired bread.

This is a year which will be spoken of.

‘Your package/parcel with The Second Angel was delivered(!)’

An unread email read. It’s still in the letterbox downstairs.

I walk slowly, for I have patience.

I am not carrying the spoon this time, I will come to you in white

with breakfast milk. I will disagree with everyone, and then myself.

This is a year which will be spoken of.

Old lips grow, new hearts shake, but I am not moved:

Acts are passed between heavy hands among the doves

I walk slowly, for I have patience.

First snow: little men with helmets buckle up under flags

Your sassy autumn girlfriends are tugged in the arse

I walk slowly, for I have patience.

This is a year which will be spoken of.

The original lines from Brecht’s ‘Finland 1940’ can be found in Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956, edited by John Willett, et al. (Methuen, 1979), pp. 349–351.

Joyce Juyi Yan is a writer. She graduated from the Creative Writing MA Programme at Newcastle University. Her poems ‘Filalka M125’ and ‘Pendant’ are included in Newcastle University & Poetry School Creative Writing/Writing Poetry MA Anthology 2022. After graduation, she moved to China for 3 months, for a family reunion, then to the US for 3 months for a long holiday. Joyce currently lives and works in London. She briefly owned a cat. You can find her on Twitter/X @jolly_yahtzee.