Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Gypsy




Second in the new strange series



Not the Usual Gypsy


She came from behind
a group of shoppers
like a left arm bowler,
took my hand in the kind

of grip you expect,
prior to being conned.
You’re going on holiday
in the next few days,

without your wife,
but your mother will be there.
Aha, I am about to say,
with a rueful smile,

but she shakes her head,
I know she’s dead.
And long since.
You’re tired of work, she says.

I am fishing
for a fiver to swop
for a piece of wishful thinking
but she tells me I won’t

ever have much money.
In that alley beside TJ Hughes,
I wonder: surely then, love.
In her grey eyes nothing


but people passing, as if tipped
off the end of the world.

15 comments:

Titus said...

I really like this.

Have I missed the first, or are things that strange?

Rachel Fox said...

Who isn't tired of work? I don't even work and I'm tired of it...
x

Hugh McMillan said...

I thought I'd do some loosely connected to weans' stories, the supernatural etc, and then get Shug b to make them into a pop up book. Beauty and the Beast was the first, i suppose.

Hugh McMillan said...

Rachel: You work tirelessly, I know. I've read about you in the Angus and Mearns Courier.

Rachel Fox said...

Ho ho ho.
And did you see what I was reading in the photo?

Hugh McMillan said...

some book with a lurid cover, must be trash.

Titus said...

Where? I am going in search!

Titus said...

Found it, no bloody idea about the book but Lord you look fine, Rachel. Sensible not to get Shug in shot.

Hugh McMillan said...

Why should I be shot? Haven't you got a Horridge? You're sadly deprived.

Rachel Fox said...

Did you watch a lot of westerns as a child, Titus? You type like a cowgirl.

As for the book - you wait till you see the back cover! You're gonna love it...

And I should add that of course it was only geography that kept the esteemed poet from the press photo.
x

Hugh McMillan said...

'typing like a cowgirl' would be a great title for a book, don't you think?

Titus said...

I think it's my husband's strange addiction to Bob Harris Country whilst doing the ironing. I sit and watch him, and the show must be permeating my language centre on a danged subliminal level.

Titus said...

shug: mine! If Rachel doesn't want it ...

hope said...

As the kid who grew up watching westerns, do I get the deciding vote? :)

Oh yeah, by the way...nice writing, Prof. :p

Marion McCready said...

Really like the ending, rather disorientating!