A DAY IN THE STRIFE (TO THE TUNE OF A DAY IN THE LIFE)

i

saw

the news today oh boy

the government

blew its legitimacy out

in a subsidised ulez car

& tho the news was rather sad

i just stood & stared

as another crowd of people 

were turned away

&

everyone was really sure

he was from the house of shills

A REAL FLYING HELICOPTER

he was young
a kid
a bored kid
  out 
  looking 
  for 
  Something / Anything

on the hatchback streets

( corsairs
  cortinas
  white dogshit
  sex pistols graffiti
  in the rape-trap subway )

~

he was young
a kid
no friends to speak of
riding his bike alone
  
  his
  mind
  an 
  Anxious Accelerator
  full 
  of 
  Vicarious Adventures

from books he read
from tv he seen
where
other kids would go out on their bikes
and explore caves
and climb walls
  and 
  find
  Something / Anything
  
but its not like that
in his fucktown for him

~

he was young
a kid
and one day
by the high street
near the pool

( when the pool
  was just a pool
  marathons tizer fruit juice
  in the snack machine
  with a 2p slot )

  he
  sees
  a
  helicopter !

coming in low
coming in to land

a real flying helicopter 

~

he was young
a kid
and
its exciting
its smugglers ?

he follows it
heart in his mouth
ALIVE on a bike

and it goes down behind a wall
and he climbs up the wall

( a wall to climb
  like he read
  like he watched
  a wall to climb
  in a street of concrete 
  assisted-living chalets
  metal bins behind wooden doors )

he sees it landed on a field
hes never seen such a thing before
he thinks hes discovered 
  
  Something . . .
  
  Mystery / Adventure / Smugglers ?

out on his bike
like the books he read
like the tv he seen

~

he was young
a kid
but weirdly older inside
all of a strange sudden

  because

  theres kids from his school there
  they already knew it would be there
  they were ready and waiting there 

  to fly in the sky

and hes just a kid on a wall now

( granadas 
  carltons
  skin heads / safety-pins / scooter mods
  on
  the 
  half-day closing
  milk-float streets )
  
learning
how
things
work

just a kid on a wall

half-day closing
portishead 1997