Poem #14 from Small Town Kid
Back to Small Town Kid – Introduction
thursday
gather the papers
and lay them out flat
then carefully make
a tight roll
tie the bundle
with a length of string
and a butterfly knot
hoist the load
onto a shoulder
and start walking
up to ford street
and spencer’s butcher shop
the butcher-man
in his stained blue-stripe apron
smiles
and cracks a little-kid joke
in the cool shop-front
that smells the particular smell
of fresh meat and sawdust
he puts the bundle
on the scales
to measure by weight
the value
of the popular press
in recent times
sixpence
for a couple of pounds of paper
and the news
becomes the wrapping
for another feed
of tender young chops
© Frank Prem 2009
Small Town Kid Poem 15: rabbit-o
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