wilfred-owen

The implicit optimism of the [field service post card] is worth noting__he way it offers no provision for transmitting news like __ have lost my left leg_ or __ have been admitted into hospital wounded and do not expect to recover._ Because it provided no way of saying __ am going up the line again,_ its users had to improvise. Wilfred Owen had an understanding with his mother that when he used a double line to cross out __ am being sent down to the base,_ he meant he was at the front again. Close to brilliant is the way the post card allows one to admit to no state of health between being __uite_ well, on the one hand, and, on the other, being so sick that one is in hospital.