Mariupol by Anthony Purdy

Poem name: Mariupol Poet name: Anthony Purdy Poem: Last year  we sighed when it rained  and the bus ran late  and the nurses caught Covid and we had to wait  for bloodwork.  Now there are no buses, no nurses and we wait for the rain in the theatre of war to cleanse the stains left by bloodwork. End of poem.  Credits and bio: Copyright © Anthony Purdy “Mariupol” won the 2022 Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia’s Postcard Poem Contest and was subsequently published in the Federation’s newsletter, Subtext (May 6, 2022) and posted on its website: writers.ns.ca/projects/postcard-contest/past-winners Anthony Purdy lives on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. His poems and stories can be found in recent issues of The Dalhousie Review, The Fiddlehead, FreeFall, Fresh Voices, The Goose, Grain, Poetry Pause, Prairie Fire, and Queen’s Quarterly. His story “Spoons” placed second in the 2022 Short Grain (Fiction) Contest.