A group of ten men in cheap suits and hats, crew on a Soviet ship
anchored in the bay. Walked around the streets looking at window
displays. Suddenly one of the men broke away from the group,
he ran down a side road, but was swiftly caught by the local police,
who had followed the group a discreet distance; only few people
noticed the incident. The fugitive sat on the pavement crying, was
forced to join the group. The man, now surrounded by the others,
had no escape. They walked around a little longer like nothing odd
had happened, then they headed back to the docks where a boat
picked them up and drove them back to their vessel in the bay.
I have always liked Jan Oskar Hansen's prose poems, although I also read his other forms of poetry. But, as a poet, I will remember him for his prose poems like this "The Cold War".
