Simon Currie
Cuckoo in January
Car scattering gravel,
he touches down
then strokes his cat.
Thrown out of College?
No, not yet.
Here just for the buzz
of a last two hundred miles
before his licence goes
a week from now.
He looks ill, coughs,
eats two packets
of something
he would scorn.
Hole in pocket:
will pay us back
when he gets some work.
Missing for hours,
safe under duvets.
His mum, some while
in hospital,
says it won’t do,
will write a stiff letter.
I tell her not to bother,
better, he comes to see her,
takes her a spliff or two.
Twenty-one, unbiddable
but still that smile.
he touches down
then strokes his cat.
Thrown out of College?
No, not yet.
Here just for the buzz
of a last two hundred miles
before his licence goes
a week from now.
He looks ill, coughs,
eats two packets
of something
he would scorn.
Hole in pocket:
will pay us back
when he gets some work.
Missing for hours,
safe under duvets.
His mum, some while
in hospital,
says it won’t do,
will write a stiff letter.
I tell her not to bother,
better, he comes to see her,
takes her a spliff or two.
Twenty-one, unbiddable
but still that smile.
Page(s) 11
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