Saturday, 11 August 2012

Bus notes 14

The baghead, he moves through
the lower deck, thinner
than the boys in magazines,
with hungering gentilitie,
spaniel eyed.
        (We're going from the foot
        of the Sandon
        to the City Road).
Between stops, he makes up
quietness, a maybe grace.
His bit of a reprieve is nearly nothing
        but it's here.

4 comments:

  1. "thinner than the boys in magazines..." says a lot, unexpected--

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  2. It always astonishes me, how smack can empty people out.

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  3. So fine this --

    with hungering gentilitie,
    spaniel eyed.

    And the lovely understated and undemanding closing couplet, brilliantly tender and tentatively kindly -- quite affecting.

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  4. Thank you, TC.

    And it's lovely to see you here among the wooden pages, Susan.

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