The Prisoner
French windows give onto a runway of lawn.
Lefthand fence mufti’d in winter jasmine.
A few weeds have made a break for it
behind the Anderson shelter.
Inside is the Sunday finish of china,
the polished knobbliness of staircases.
Smells strike the hours. Toast, hot milk, shoe polish
and three reeks a day of lamb’s liver catfood.
There’s a whiff of tea caddies and travellers’ tales.
Hygienic gloves hang on hooks for removing
the reinforced rubber lids of dustbins.
A J-cloth for wiping milk bottles
and their tiny plastic baseball caps;
the milk is isolated in the fridge
in separate blood groups.
Even the cat has special cartons.
Only the cat is allowed to leave pawprints
on the kitchen table. Even a burglar
would have to brush his feet at the door
or take a turn with the Ewbank.
Mountain ash sends out long beggarly shoots.
The wrought-iron gates shut to
in uncomfortable wedlock. Between them
a metal stake cocks a sharp snook at the world.
Page(s) 17
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