BATTERED BETTY AND SUCH.

Mum says she can't

afford for me

to have a hula hoop

Helen says

as I meet her

by Baldy's shop

early Saturday morning

but I have had a go

on my friend's

not that I'm

very good at it

she says

but it would have been

good to have had my own

o come on

I say

it's a hoop of plastic

and you put it

around your waist

and do a wiggle

of your body

and it goes round

continuously around

your waist

if you're lucky

I say

that's nothing

to mope about

she stands

by the side

of the shop

looking up towards

the railway bridge

in Rockingham Street

but I did like

having a go

she mutters

I'd like to ride a horse

like the Lone Ranger

but I wouldn't want

to own a horse

I say

where'd I put it

if I did?

I'd love a horse

she says

white one

with a long

hairy tail

and she dreams

for a moment or two

about the horse

but you're right

she says

where to put it?

we walk down towards

the post office

to post a letter

of her father's

and then walk along

the Newington Causeway

what colour horse

would you like?

Helen asks

black shiny black

I say

she talks of her brother

dropping her doll

Battered Betty

and an arm

coming off

and how her dad

managed to

fix it again

but it was

back to front

and he had

to take it off

and put it

the right way around

and she's

at home resting

Helen says

resting after

the operation

and we come to

the New Kent Road

and walk along

to the Trocadero cinema

and pay out money

for the morning matinee

and we sit

half way back

ready to watch

the cartoon

and black and white

Batman film

then the big feature film

which I hope

won't be

a cowboy film

with kissing in it

which really

gets my goat

and Helen sits

next to me

waiting for the lights

to go out

still talking

about her doll

and the arm

and one eye

I watch the screen

not wanting to know.

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