Alan Perry
College Days
A side-street in Town,
a pub on the corner
tinselled and faerie-lit,
wafting the smell
of beer and the
sound of revelry.
I look up the street
and down
and back again, stare
in the murky window.
...a violin
two 78’s
a string of beads
a shrivelled fly -
I take off my
overcoat and roll
it up. A bell brings
sharply as I push
the door...
It’s twilit and bare in here.
Old Mandelstein’s
perched on a stool
his jeweller’s loupe
screwed to his eye
examining some
trinket. He doesn’t
budge an inch, still
searching for a flaw
and then
before I can speak,
still glued to his
spurious Koh-i-noor
says ‘Silver and
gold and jewellery
only -
The door swings shut
behind me with a ting.
It’s Christmas '61
and bitterly cold out here.
I open the coat
and put it on.
Page(s) 106
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