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Waiting For The No.53
From the good school, these.
They scuffle against the queue.
Drippy-nosed in rats’ twilight,
under the scaffolded railway bridge.
Damp backs in frayed blazers.
Battering-ram sports bags
butting at shoulder height.
Floppy hair and spot cream.
Shirt-tails blur. Cuffs grubbed
back from skinny wrists.
Yanked ties and shin kicking.
Flobbed gum and stale games kit.
The Lynx not fully effective.
Bumfluff on a top lip leers
a “Nuts” mag suggestion
(with anatomical sign language)
at someone’s pretty older sister.
Her nose glides on by.
Lip-gloss purses all around her
in sticky teenage solidarity.
Highlighted hair-flicks shimmy
their slow-mo tutting.
Bumfluff shrugs,
picks his ear. Shoves his mate
at a fat girl. Looks around:
yeah, no one noticed.
I see them ~ I know where they are ~ a vivid picture artistically painted
Of course, I’m sure they’re lovely children really… Ahem!
A colorful description, indeed, Holly, love it! xx
Thanks Lauren.
Reminds me of the old 145 at four in the afternoon. Well done!
Sounds like I hit the mark then! Thanks Joe.
Vivid image painted here? Love it.
Love those last three lines!
I did struggle a bit to find an ending that felt right for this one, so I’m glad to hear that it worked for you Christine… Teenage boys are indeed strange creatures…
Sorry Holly! Typo – should be ! And not ? I really must start checking and stop blaming my IPad! 😊
No worries – I knew what you meant!
Flobbed – there’s a word from my past!
Horrible, nasty, dirty… *shudder*
I think I must have waited alongside such boys many, many times. I like your sly ‘From the good school, these.’ Perfect use of inversion!
Oooh! “Inversion”! Thank you Marina.
reminds me of going home on the train in Sydney sometimes..
Ugh. Crowded trains. You have my sympathies Rose.