Archive for July, 2009

the heavy typer

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

the heavy typer
sits next to me on the train,
a corporate animal
tied to his laptop,
reminding me of
someone playing
chopsticks on the piano.
engrossed in his email
he blows dust off his keyboard
and stares intently at the screen.
it half interests me
to know what he is typing
but it is bound to be boring.
he wears a blue uniform
blue suit, stripy blue shirt
and a striped pink and blue tie.
not really my kind of guy.

opposite him
a chap in his early fifties
looks far more relaxed
in an open necked white shirt
and sports jacket.
without being able to see
he is probably surfing.
his breakfast consisted
of a hot chocolate
and a Twix chocolate bar
he will be tired by the time
we get to London.
he is already yawning.
his young chum
with gelled, greying hair,
is in a dark grey pinstripe suit
and grey shirt.
he reads a novel
and says nothing
for the whole journey.

Airshow

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

hot and tired
the sun beats me down,
no violence
but for certain
no benevolence
and I need all defences.
I hat-share with another
of less foresight,
eyesight cooled by new shades,
tongue licked by ice cream,
cardboard cup of weakly satisfying tea.
noise, excitement, awe,
strikes, soars, swoops,
cameras click and binoculars pan,
babies cry and throw plastic bottles,
tattooed parents sip cold beer
and polystyrene packaged chips with sausages
are consumed out of duty to a tradition
best reserved for windswept seaside towns in March.
homeward we queue and complain
but there is no one to listen.

Independent Education on 4th July

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

‘What?’
‘No:’
‘Pardon’.
Sit still. Stop swinging on the chair,
Playing with the paper/pens/pencils/other students’ education.
OUT! You really didn’t need to punch Alex twice in the face, once was adequate.
You’re acting like you are in Year 2, maybe the American system should be trialled here.

Where do they get the language from?

The kids do like the US but don’t have a clue really.
An island of sadness within an Island nation.
This is the new school.
Primary, like the healthcare.
Basic and scary.

Nifty Fifty

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

When asked what it’s like to be fifty,
Kim replied that it feels rather nifty,
For to party is fun,
When all’s said and done,
Though the time has gone by rather swiftly.

Summer’s evening

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

It’s one o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting out on the decking with a nice little glass of wine. It’s completely still. No breeze, no traffic, no inner-city noise at all. Of course, the odd seagull is still at it. The worst is over on the seagull front, though, since Liam, my next-door neighbour, took this year’s abandoned fledgling to a rescue centre. It had found asylum in my driveway underneath the branches of the Chilean (or is it Argentinian ? – I can never remember) potato plant. I tried hard to give it water, and even opened a pack of smoked salmon for it. But it was too frightened and kept running away. Do seagulls like smoked salmon anyway ?? I’m glad it’s in safe hands. The noise the young ones make is horribly pathetic, and, what’s more, really piercing – and I can leave the house now without being mobbed by its parent. Anyway, the point of the story is that I have seen through midnight, the time at which I go from being on holiday, to being unemployed. It’s a lovely night. I’m comfortably warm in my shorts and T-shirt. The future is ahead of me and it’s going to be good.