The city I love

The sun sets in the city I love

Darkness hides life about us now

As owls and bats skim all about

In dark corner I hear a shout

Is that a rat in narrow alley

I am sure it was he didn't dally

The full moon smirks from its safe place

As call girls show much of their wares

Taxi cabs deliver their rides

As they cross the road with big strides

The girls plead but are brushed away

Long night for them until break of day

The nightclubs are filling up fast

This city like any other

Is now embraced by everyone

Even that guy toting a gun

I drink my coffee in Joes bar

Check driver of that fancy car

Then I hear the tires give a scream

As it takes off swiftly pursued

Is chased down the street to dockside

I leave; stuff ups I can't abide

Flag a cab, must get out of here

Found later in bar drinking beer

Image found at https://www.instagram.com/mc...monster/

The hollow man

I am the hollow man
Who's lived a life of woe
I promised much along with trust
With nothing to back this Joe

Friends how they come and go
Fall in the spiders trap
I borrow cash then disappear
Don't tell, so they call me crap

I always seem okay
Neat look and smiling face
But I'm ready to make a dash
I plan to flee in disgrace

I am the hollow man
Now it's me that is fraught
My acts have caught up with me
I sit here alone in court

Image found at https://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/gallery/inside-reading-crown-court-11879034

Mary Ann

Audacious would I call Mary Ann
Little minx quite aware of her charms
She smiled and flirted her way up
From mere office girl to bosses aide
Who probed and check us minion's work

Granted that she had got her degree
It was the way she'd spoken to us
At school she'd kiss each one for fun
Thinking she could control us now
As though that gift was some kind of deal

That was not the case with Thomas Bates
Left school and missed that gift of hers
Thought dating would be a good idea
The joke then made a terrible turn
She turned him down, and his fate was sealed

This all happened at the end of Spring
But I learned of it much later on
His corpse was found close to a farm gate
Meanwhile the culprit was rounded up
Young Mary Ann copped a fifteen year span

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/business-lady-woman-girl-computer-3560922/

Childhood memories

Childhood memories
Black night dreaming
Shadows on the windows
Car lights dazzling
Little fingers blocking ears

Menace from within
Dishes smashing
Crying in the kitchen
Silence after
He's now throwing a tantrum

Father's now speaking
He is leaving
Bruises plain on her face
She sleeps with us
Until he comes back again

Image found at www.lifetudes.com

Without a thought

The baby played in the filth on the floor and stared at is quizzically. I turned and nodded to my assistant to care for the child while I attended to the mother on the couch. The room was a mess. Clothing, papers and disarray everywhere as I checked to see if the woman was conscious or even still alive. 

I guessed she had been popping pills as there were no syringes in sight. I phoned for an ambulance as I couldn't get any response from the woman except that she was still alive. My assistant came back; looked at me  and said, " The baby has bad nappy rash ..." and pausing, "... some bruising...I think we should call an ambulance."

I nodded as my assistant went back to the baby. The woman was still inert; still no movement, breathing shallow, she was totally blacked out. Ambulance for her too.

Just then a strange man came in through the door.

"What the fucking hell do you think you are doing here?" he shouted.

"And you are? I asked politely.

"I bloody live here bitch. You can get out straight away".

Still defiant he stood his ground, as I explained that I was responding to a call for assistance.

"Well now I am here, you can get out."

"I am sorry sir, but the baby and this woman are in need of medical treatment and it is my duty to arrange that." I paused trying to keep calm. "Perhaps you could give me some details while we wait for an ambulance."

He was about to protest again when my assistant returned to the room and said, "They'll be here in a few minutes"

The man turned around angrily to see who this newcomer was and stared a 6'3" cop with a gun in his holster and the baby quiet in his arms.

Without a thought he darted for the door and ran off down the stairs.


Image found at www.7online.com

The children were in bed

Rings under her eyes

Docile much like a rabbit

Fear her companion

Children were in bed

Long before he came home drunk

For his evening meal

He might be okay

Not inflict her with abuse

She could never tell

With some money left

He’d slowly eat in silence

He might not hit her

With empty pockets

She would be the one at fault

If she’d dared whimper

Nobody believed

Her excuse for the bruises

Even her children

They tried not to cry

Huddled together in bed

And kept dead quiet

Image found at www.zolaurbannews.co.za

Last train to Alton

         UK police constables c1956 from the TV series Dixon of Dock Green

 

It was a Saturday night in 1956 and I trotted along the lonely streets of the town. The pubs had  long shut and all those years ago the traffic was light to non existent. I was heading for the train station just about a mile away. The last train left at 5 minutes past midnight. My destination was home nine miles away. Well ten miles if you count the run from my girlfriends house to the station.

Every Saturday night was the same, those lingering kisses and the last fond embrace had to be measured to the last second. I hadn’t missed a train yet but as we tended to stick to each other like glue a longer wait until the first train in the morning was always a possibility and being Sunday that would be a very long wait indeed.

I was going downhill now down Downing Street past the mens clothing store, past the fish shop and just as I passed the grocers two figures stepped out of the shadows.

“Just a minute lad” said one. 

Just my luck, I could skirt the drunks and the tramps in doorways but to run into two policemen on a dull night shift, I was just what they needed to help pass their boring night away.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” said one. While the other sized me up with his torch.

I could barely talk as I was out of breath. I mumbled something about trying to catch the last train to Alton. However that was the problem. They weren’t interested in my plans but only what I had been doing.

“But where have you just run from?” the first one asked implying foul deeds I was escaping from.

So I had to relate where I had been, who with and why and the utter importance of me catching the last train that left in but a few minutes.

He came closer and shone his torch in my face. My panting breath had no taint of alcohol perhaps only the sweet scent of my girlfriend so my innocence was convincing.

“OK my lad off you go and don’t leave it so late next time.”

I resumed my run to the station. The level crossing gates were starting to close and as I scampered over the footbridge I knew that I would make it after all.

On recounting my adventure to my girlfriend later she reluctantly made me leave a few minutes earlier in future. Less than a year later we were married so my worries were over and we stayed together all night…every night!

I have feet of clay

 

 

I have feet of clay

Time does not erode the past

If only it would

 

I do not feel safe

I shudder and shake in bed

Sheets twisted in knots

 

Waking like an owl

My home is the inky night

I foresee the flames

 

What did I do wrong?

Immeasurable failings

Bending of the truth

 

Time passes slowly

My mouth is full of pebbles

I still yearn for peace

The bad seed

Stories that we tell

How many clues in our life

Our secret domain

 

As from our cradle

We are peering outward bound

Do you see us three?

 

Truth, lies, forgetting

Never seen by my mother

Apple of her eye

 

Welcome claws of fate

You have piled my spirits up

I, friend to no-one

 

Now for rash actions

I’ll lead my life in exile

She will never see

Whatever happened to Megan?

I shouldn’t really tell you this. I am quite ashamed of what happened to Megan. She was one of those girls that wanted to join the gang! She was adamant that she would fit in. What was she thinking about? We weren’t a gang but a real shambles of a group. We wasted our time waiting for something to happen. And it always did. I supposed we looked so assured, so cocky, so confident. Any outsider would have thought we were going places. Well we did petty thieving mainly.

We would take a few bits from the corner shops, while one of us did actually buy something quite cheap. A can of beans was the tease whilst the bottles of Coke came free. A pack of gum for a few cents was accompanied by a stash of other goodies in our pockets. We never left the shop in a rush. Red was good he would ask about the buses after he had paid while the others would listen intently to what the shopkeeper had to say. We would even stay talking outside the shop for a few minutes, all innocent like.

The peculiar thing about Megan was that she was quite cute, but dumb; thick as a plank. She just wanted to be one of the boys if you know what I mean. I think that Rich was the one that wanted her in. Don’t know what her saw in her. She was a skinny little wench. She had that peculiar look of a puppy, fawning up to you, wanting to please; so she got in on Rich’s say so. None of us really cared. We were all that stupid.

We should get some gear she said to me one day. I was in the Market eating an apple. No, I didn’t pay for it must have fallen from a fruit stall. She had sidled up looking quite cute I must admit. She nodded in the direction of the clothing stall with all the designer named jeans and tops bootlegged in some sweatshops in Indonesia or Sri Lanka or somewhere but would do for us if only for the thrill of pulling a snatch off. So I was the foil, the genuine customer to distract to stallholder. There were just the four of us that day, Megan and the others would pick up a few pieces while I tried on some jeans grabbing the guy’s attention.

Of course it didn’t work. I was not even a suspect, but Megan and the other two got caught while I was still struggling out of the “Levi’s”. They all went to Juvenile Court. It wasn’t reported of course, them being under age. But Gerry and Red had their movements severely restricted. It was the break up of the gang. Megan just disappeared. She may have been in need of care as they say. The peculiar thing is that the others said she didn’t even show up in court. I guessed it was her age and left it at that, she may have come from a foster home or something so got different treatment.

Well those days have long gone. I still think about her and how we should have said she wasn’t up to it. I suppose we blamed her for stuffing it up, but that is not how it was. I know that now. Just as well I have moved well away. I’ve grown up and so has Megan. Yes, I have met her again. She is a real charmer. What we didn’t know was that her Dad was in the police. All he said to her was “let me know if you hear of anything” and so she became our nemesis. I admire her for that. The trouble is I really fancy her for being so game. I wonder whether she could forget the past?

Garry the Provider

Garry's face was in the dirt. He had never felt so embarrassed before. He lay on his stomach with his hands handcuffed behind his back. All around him were onlookers; standing, staring speaking...about him! By his side stood one of the arresting officers. Behind him he knew there were two patrol cars, their flashing lights illuminating the pavement with repeated bursts of blue.

He wept with shame and humiliation. He had bungled the hold up. It had been going so well, only a few customers and a teller that did as she was told. He even had the money in his hands. So much money there must have been thousands. Everything had been going to plan. They had certainly obeyed him with that replica pistol in his hand. He felt so good and strong then. He had been ten foot tall and so powerful, but now...what had gone wrong?

"Come on lad, on your feet now!"

He struggled to get up with his arms pinned behind him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and one at his elbow as he slowly rose, first to a kneeling position and then standing.

He stumbled as he was pushed toward the police vehicle. A hand was placed on his head to avoid it hitting the door frame. He then fell back into the seat. Helpless, the seat belt was fastened around for him and the car drove off.

All Garry could think of on the journey to the lock up was Jenny and their baby daughter Bonnie. His little Babs, his Baby Boo. He felt the tears coming again. He had only done it for them, to give them a decent home and food and clothes and toys.

What would Jenny do now? How would she manage? She couldn't go back to that cow of a mother. Not after all the rows they had had about him.

And his parents? They would slam the door in her face. They weren't worth a pinch of shit. Rhonda his sister might help but how could he tell Jenny that now?

"Did you say something, son?"

Garry's mumbling had attracted the officer at his side. With his head still bowed Garry slowly shook his head.

"Won't be long now and you'll be tucked up in a nice little cell," sneered his companion. The two police officer winked at each other in the rear view mirror. The one by Garry's side turned and spoke to him again.

"Looks as though you're in for some care and attention. No more nights on the street for you, eh?"

No, not for me, thought Garry.


(Pastel impression by author of a recent European news photo. )