Friday 26 May 2017

TALKING TO ARTHUR NEXT DOOR



we start with a greeting
hes doing whatever he does
on his drive full of cars

football shirt on
or not shirt at all

today its no shirt at all

i am taking out rubbish
i probably dump it
in the wrong bin

and we ask each other 
if we are ok
and i will tentatively 
approach the fence
keeping my options open

he will tell me something
about
the
weather / family / hospital visits

i will say something similar
which he will not notice

next he might tell me
something i told him 
three months ago

but today its something almost new
its about the guy opposite today
who rides up and down the street
in electric mobility scooters
with his brothers
of an evening 
now its lighter later

theyre men he says
theyre liable

i am laughing and tell him hes jealous

he will only notice 
that i disagreed
and his head will not compute
and
he 
will
escalate vaguely

the way stuff is today
i dont like it he says
dimly self aware 
he has nothing 
specific to say

this is going nowhere
so i ask him about 
all the cars on the drive

my son-in-laws he says
they got parking charges now
in his street

i ask wheres that then ?

oh where he lives
he says in surprise

i think blimeyjesus 

the way stuff is today . . .
he is saying 

i diffuse him
before he brings up
the team of blockpavers
from months ago
who he assumes 
are bulgarian
and that carjacked van
they had nothing to do with

i diffuse him
with a broad sweeping statement
of the nature of progress
its inherent temporariness 
our fickle interpretation 

and as i am loosing him
and as he doesnt listen to me anyway
i say
the more things change 
the more they stay the same

a saying i mull over often

and he likes that
it has a ring to it
it sounds clever

and we sign off
with a joke
about supper
the kettle
afternoon naps

we both go in
and i dont have
to look at
his great hairy corfu brown belly
and his struggling childs eyes
anymore
or
those
small
growths
in his armpit
that look like
the legs of a tiny octopus
climbing
out
of
his
flesh



Image result for blockpaving images

from siteadvisor.com

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