Chronicle

by Diane Jackman

In this year
the man brings glass to the abbey.

It is made of sand and lime and ash, he says.
Yet light shines through.

It was framed in the fire, he says.
Yet it is ice to touch.

It flows and dribbles, he says.
Yet it is brittle.

He tears down the rough cloth,
throws back the wooden shutters.
He spreads the glass across space
smoothes in the edges.

It will not rust or rot, he says.
It will keep out the north-easterlies.

Will it keep out the North-men?

Judge's Comments - Roger Elkin

What makes this successful writing is its lean style - only 2 adjectives used to strengthen nouns - "rough cloth", "wooden shutters"; the rest of the time the adjectives complement the verb sense. This emphasises the certainty of what is chronicled: the bringing of glass windows to the abbey. Although not specified as such, the referencing is probably to the importation of glass-windows at the 8th-Century monastery of St Peter at Monkwearmouth near to Jarrow where Bede wrote his Chronicle. However, the poem's absence of specificity of location, time or person, means that attention focuses on the events which consequently are portrayed as matters-of-fact, stages in completion, carried out in a practical, no-nonsense manner. The anaphoric parallelism of the largely-couplet structures pivoting on "he says" reinforces this, as do the italicised speech lines that provide the contradictory qualities of the glass, while simultaneously enriching its suitability for purpose. And yet, for all its certainties -"will not rust, or rot"; "will keep out the north-easterlies" - the italicised question of the final line raises doubt.