Month: June 2015

The map on each school room wall was proudly red
“The British Empire,” glowed teachers.
A former colony looked up to England
figuratively and geographically.
God save the Queen. Royal tours
Vice Regals with ostrich plume headdress.

Declared a prime minister declaring war
“where Britain goes we go.”
We did. Transport a roll call of British engineering
Our cars Austin, Morris, Riley, Vauxhall
Bedford trucks. Leyland buses
diecast replicas
coveted boy presents
runners up in desire only to Hornby train sets.

Hornby train sets.
virtual landscape of the English countryside
packaged with track, engine, tender, wagons
Micro verisimilitude – run like clockwork – macro envy.

Every year
aged six
aged seven
aged eight
aged nine
when asked birthday wish
a train set. Hornby of course.

My mother laughed
“no you don’t.”
At 10 the same question
a new answer. “You’re too old for that now.”
“Now.” Qualification has expired.

Throwaway line as lie
“no you don’t ”
more loving than truth.
There wasn’t enough money for a train set.

Brothers
bros yet to be pop culture contraction
not quite clergymen
poverty, chastity and obedience
obedience given and demanded.
Gold hearted. Iron fisted. Teachers of adolescent boys.

He was an anomaly
Mr amongst conferees
sir to his charges.
“ Sir,” as if born with title
in class, “ what is the coordinate value? ”
“3y.”
“3y what? ”
“3y sirrrrr.”

Despite not being ordained
he was the only one who always began with prayer.
For some the self-consciousness of sensitivity
is never not
a bridegroom leading the first waltz
father in laws holding new borns
uncles at funerals.

Today at commencement prayer
the former army officer
is at loss
sternness momentarily without rank
he has a special intention
a pause.
Clouds drift. Time ticks. Paper rustles
as silent as a classroom can be
near magic offers excuse for confession.

A boy not much older than us
is to be sentenced today
a glass bottle thrown from a moving vehicle
struck a bystander – serious injuries.
The one probably to be jailed didn’t do it
the others in the car bible swore he did.

What is fact to one generation
is fantasy to another
fantasy
slow
then fast forward
as invention becomes consumerism.

Progress. Inheritance or bequest?
The Wright brothers fleeting airborne
sires jet travel.
Valves transistors and diodes
serially rearrange and contract : desktop, notebook, tablet.

The present future versus slumbering nostalgia
immobile phones
clunky photocopiers
bikes without the prefix Mt.
The sigh of memory ridiculed by comfort
except for the fantasy that now always will be.
Employment
recruiters came to universities and colleges then
no applications or resume
a single interview and letter from a professor.
Salary prescribed – start date by negotiation.

Five years later travel beckons – a decade of itinerancy
in the mid 90s a return to career and settlement.
Applications must now be typed.
Two referees
curriculum vitae
professional help is sought with the last.
A woman of indeterminate age
cheerful and irreverent
trims surplus detail – adds market skills.

For this employer a photograph 3″ x 3″ is required
a re-entrant to the workplace puzzles this necessity.
An exhalation and look
the look of a kindly aunt to a dim nephew.
“It allows exclusion the law doesn’t
gender
ethnicity
religion, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
A picture doesn’t need to be a thousand words sweetie.”