Schoolday windows .. .
.

.
Jam on it…
Old boots drawn on a blackboard wall
no creativity in the assembly hall
kids line up for their detentions
who came late to the roundabout
when we were students in the forum
ruled by slipper, cane and ghosts
we joked about it as we stood in line
forget your p.e. kit – pay the fine
rule of law says don’t talk back
boys turned men at initiation ceremony
press-ganged onto the ‘operating table’
wartime values becoming unstable
like dynamite, the kids were not alright
maleness corked, bottled, so uptight
fights after school not tolerated
boys at back of class masturbated
next door the girls wore black tights
while schoolboys debated their teats
learning the best adolescent behaviour
’till secondary schools eventually merger
sadists in tweed jackets, brillcream-cuts
leather elbows n’cuffs no idea about children
junior teachers who constantly bungled
stepping through the blackboard jungle
sash windows, grubby nine-inch panes
tell tales of misery by classroom stains
a trashed chemistry lab, corridor fights
keep you looking over your shoulder
the awesomeness of art still calling
Mr Morgan not caning our asses
was now in the art-room drawing
the most beautiful boots I ever saw
then came the old school reunion
Dianne Seizer whose tits were huge
had died while swimming we discovered
Richard and Susie now bedroom lovers
©edenbraytoday22.05.2022












THIS DREAM WAS THE FIRST .. .
This dream was the first .. .
.
This dream was the first
it woke me alarmed and
covered in damp persuasion
of believing myself
a gangster on the run
born to play Machieveli
I, who held my own,
alone in downstate Illinois
put things out with guys
from town who boasted
their family had worked
the numbers for Capone
I rolled-over on my side
to dream a dream so real
I might have borrowed long
archived in black and white
a spool of Pathé-news
a Time-Life story centrefold.
A technicolour epic-plot
enter centre-stage right
a vision of a golden age
when streets of Hollywood
became the focal point
Cecile B.DeMille was sage
My dreams all now coloured
who says they never are
from Maine, Chicago and Nebraska
drawn together two by two
I rob a bank, I wander free
movie-screenplays all i see
I became a full-time dreamer
who has a skill of sorts
imagined myself a schemer
I can cope with all retorts
yet now the sun is dipping fast
this dream is nearly over
John Wayne leans against
a door that’s open, Cagney
singing, dances off the set
Gregory and Jean may settle
down in happy valley, Burl’s
performance we forget
I wake to find it was a dream
things bad as they could be
maniacal monsters, sharks
still roam the earth and sea
Godzilla’s wearing afterbirth
sick tyrants still walk free
©edenbraytoday18.05.2022
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