Forever Altered

Daydreaming in the jungle

Hope bullies at bay

Try to be watchful

Keep them away

Arms pinned

running pel mel

helter skeltered to who knows what

brick, blood, bits of teeth and chin amok

Nobody saw

Nobody spoke

Lifetime treatment, one kid, front teeth

Nobody cared anyway.

                                        Fog on Moss Side

the fog air

sucks your breath

even under the balaclava

apparitions

more interesting than people

a massive world unknown

familiar changed

so ghostlike

will it stay

please infect tomorrow

with the same

 

  Mom's Lament

 

I was wrong, don't tell me

Default setting for mother, is wrong, I know the drill

Feed them,

Don't,

cuddle them,

Don't

That Dr Spock must be turning in his grave

Due to all of the mothers he misinformed and swayed

To his ideas about regimes

and when to feed the child

how many kids grew up

wishing they had not been born

                                    Playtime in Moss Side

We ran at each other with chickens feet

pulling their tendons

oblivious to their fate

Occasional rats, some dead, a brick would surely tell

dressing like princesses, crepe paper et al

Marking the pavements with roller bearing skates

Marking territory with kids from other estates

Hanging round Alex Park

Whit Week's around the corner

New clothes for all

Whit Sunday at the matriarch's

kids looking fine

Uncles giving coins

Kids happy

Family memories sublime