NOSTALGIA GLANDS

outside the unkillable bookies

diehard smokers

brace for judgement

& breath their b&h

into my memory portal

& manic nostalgia glands

~

matchboxes &

cubic cellophane

under the thin light

of a streetlight

& night smoke

in the mist of rain

BEAR CORNER 1990

& tho we all said DONT

he would run ahead

to the phone box 

on bear corner

& dial 999 

& shout BOLLOX

at the answering dispatcher 

then stand triumphant 

on the pavement
a lit b&h in his 

half-sovereign fist

waiting for us to catch up

every friday night

after last orders

in 1990 or 91