Tuesday Poem - moment by Jane Williams

moment

two girls get on a bus wearing matching mini skirts

and fake fur collared jackets when the bus driver asks

what fare? they whisper child like it's a great shame

that won't have to bear for much longer

one or two more years maybe already their heels lift them

one whole inch over the legal age they sit crossing and

uncrossing legs locking and unlocking mobile phones

like they're expecting important calls they speak to each other

in the coded half sentences of the cool beginning each one

with the word like as if reality is relative they raise

the volume every now and then to emphasise brand

names or bemoan such injustices as a forfeited allowance

or being grounded when the bus slows to a stop

in the middle of the road and the driver mumbles

c'mon boys move it along the girls look out the window and

catch a flurry of orange strange birds in slow motion

about to take flight but in no hurry and before they can

check themselves all pretence at sophistication crumbles

as they cry out in unison

oh look! monks! monks!

 

I haven't heard Jane Williams read her work before so I nipped along to the
launch of her New and Selected - Days Like These - (Interactive Press) at
Collected Works and was well pleased to put a voice to the work. I invested
in a copy - very readable work.

http://www.ipoz.biz/Titles/DLT.htm