Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry

On the track
standing above me
she turned and spoke.
“You don’t really want to walk do you?”
A statement. Not an enquiry.

She said I wanted to be with her
was attracted to her.
Stammering retractions and denials
are met with a softer tone
and a slow advance.
anorak tenting breasts – at eye level
knowing dark overthrows uncertain twilight.

A decade and a half older
mother of four
seeking attractiveness, settling for hormones.
“Did I want to go with her?”
Go with her
a euphuism not heard before
but needing no translation
desire passes straight from hope to urgency.

Did I know a place?
Yes.
A smile gives permission.
One condition
I’m not permitted to look…… stretchmarks.

Afterwards
furtive glances prompt another question.
Had I ever seen a naked woman?
Once at 18
In an indifferent smoky room
where women are paid to remove their clothes.
“That doesn’t count.”
An invitation to a private viewing.

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The Internet destroyed mystery
and debate
who was the greatest ballplayer
Ty Cobb
Babe Ruth
Joe DiMaggio?
IPhone + Google + stats = unarguable answer
in seconds.
Backup crew for Apollo 11
scroll…. 3 names
the drummed out drummer
dumped from The Beatles for Ringo
screen flash : Pete Best
obviously not.
And for teachers
homework
that required thought and deduction.

It was a gifted class
top stream
high school mathematics
take home problems
to extend
to challenge.
A priori
impossible to solve with present knowledge.

One pupil does
always
irrespective of difficulty.
His father helps candour admits
as the year progresses
and difficulty
a solution, the correct one, returns each morning.
One day very impressed
she asks is your father a computer programmer or engineer
“no Miss, he’s a butcher
he just really enjoys mathematics.”

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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 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.”

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