mind is selling off cutlery
– knives are behind the counter
please ask

wrapper-upper ensures
bud vase for lover-sister-comrade
is padded to perfection

young goths
wearing their ribs on the outside
cry over onions in the gutter

pull wheelies
on borrowed wheelchairs
air-guitaring crutches

they couldnt be – well, less straight,
like leazes park where the railing bends
surprised round that ash – tree ov life

for these honey-slicked and licked
caedmon soft-slipper shuffles
translucent as vellum