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Bob Mitchell

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Hadleigh

Just in case you remember
What I said about Ipswich
Hadleigh isn’t like that at all.
in fact, it’s
Totally different.

There are shops in Hadleigh
That sell puncture repair kits,
tomatoes & lime jelly.

I think there’s a river there somewhere
but I don’t remember its name, &
one of the pubs (is it the Red Lion?)
has got a Durex machine in the doorway.

Somebody told me that
All the women in Hadleigh
Have their periods exactly at
The same time, but I can’t believe that.
It’d he a menstrual cataclysm, with a rush
On the chemists leaving the latecomers
To roll their own.

Anyway, people in Hadleigh
Look very short, undernourished.
Maybe there’s something wrong with them
& they don’t know it. It’s
A shame.

There is no university,
Airport or Mosque there,
But the delicatessen is passable
& the cake shop, too.
It’s not really a bad place.

 

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