The Daily Poem: Shelling Bihac

For copyright reasons we are not able to provide the full text of the poem on this database. Following are the details of the publication in which it appears.

Bihac is an area in north-west Bosnia inhabited mainly by Muslims, that has been shelled, mostly by Bosnian Serbs, over the last few days. There is no Western media presence, which makes definite facts and figures difficult to get at; the information that inspired this poem came from the Bihac community in exile, some in Zagreb, others scattered across Europe. They are able to maintain a tenuous connection with Bihac by telephone, although with only two lines into the city's main exchange it is difficult to get through, and when shelling is particularly heavy the exchange is unstaffed.

Harry Smart's latest collection of poetry, Shoah, was published by Faber in 1993 at pounds 5.99. He lives in Scotland.