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Running as an act of defiance

Poets have always responded to war by writing poetry — it’s what we do. Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24th February this year people started sending The Friday Poem their poems about the war — poems about resistance, poems of protest, and poems about specific individuals affected by the fighting. These are stories of courage, grief and hope. We decided to publish some every week as Friday Poems for Ukraine. Here’s ‘Running as an act of defiance’ by Iain Whiteley. Slava Ukraini!

Running as an act of defiance

For Nikolai, Volodmir & Konstantin

Like you, I think many things while running. Today, 
I think how good you look at 75, no doubt down 
to those 48 marathons in Berlin, Prague, Bratislava.

I try to think how brave someone must be to run 
through 10 explosions within 20 kilometres of a lap 
of the local park. I think how I might soon even 

know. I think how strong you look in that selfie. 
How proud and fresh. I think how your running 
partner looks younger, maybe my age. He grins 

carefree with endorphins and I love how his arms 
are raised and his head is cocked and he’s cheering 
and toothy and silly like a champ. You run for peace 

in a city at war. There’s been a lot to cry about lately 
and your app sets me off: innocent stats showing 
distance, duration, pace. Strava doesn’t plot bombs

or carnage. I think of your defiance. Seeing this 
through to the finish. Where your next race
could lead. I think of your personal best.

‘We’re showing we’re alive’: the older Ukrainians running daily as war rages — Diyora Shadijanova in The Guardian 10/03/22

Iain Whiteley is a freelance writer with poems in The North magazine and The Poetry Archive, and a collection, Ping!, published by Write Bloody UK.

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