April Poems 2016/19

Tim and Gary

Tim was the coolest guy in school

long hair, great taste in music –

Eno, Hillage, Buckley, 801,

This was in the days of vinyl,

when even cassettes were new and expensive

and the lady across the road worked at Boots

where she could order anything at all.

He had groupies, the Art crowd

who did A level art and maybe English

or one of the social sciences.

I had a crush on him, we all did,

but I was a maths-physics-chemistry student

and our paths crossed only at lunchtime

and on the bus.

I went out with Gary – the guy who rubbed

his crotch then licked his hands. He bought me rum

and told me I was the best dancer he'd ever seen

until I was sick all over his shoes.

He shouldn't have bought me the wine,

Ever the gentleman he walked me to the bus stop,

let me have a couple of his chips

but he'd drowned them in vinegar.

Gary left school at sixteen, got an apprenticeship

and worked in the spring factory in Redditch.

Tim went to college and got a degree,

worked in Sainsbury's with his hair cut short,

lived in his parent's house with his wall of albums

and one surviving piece of art from school.