Baruch took the bus
to Kennington park
he wanted to see
a different place
away from the usual
the familiar sights
and people
he had brought
Fay along
having paid
her bus fare
and saying
they’d not be late
(she worrying
about her father
getting home from work
and finding
that she'd not
completed her
school essay
on The Ten Commandments)
and also
that she was with him
(whom her father
termed the Jew boy)
and he said it was better
if she never saw him
which was impossible
as they lived
in the same
block of flats
and went by
each other
on the stairs
but her mother knew
and said
to keep it quiet
and gave Fay a 1/-
for an ice cream
and drink of cola
they walked around
the park
she gazing
at the flowers
and butterflies
and birds
and he imagining
Injuns about
to pop out
of the bushes
or over
the small mound
(he called a hill)
on their mixed
coloured horses
and firing arrows
from their bows
or shooting
from rifles
and as he walked
he patted
the 6 shooter gun
in the holster
hanging
from the belt
of his jeans
( hidden
by his grey jacket)
she talked
of the nun at school
who slammed
a wooden ruler
on the palms
of girls
who didn't know
their catechism
all through
and the girl
who had her
legs slapped
for wearing
her school dress
too short
(she'd outgrown it
and her parents
couldn't afford another)
and he talked
of the cowboy film
he'd seen the other day
where the cowboy
wore his two guns
back to front
so that he had to
cross hands
to reach them
and still out drew
the bad guys
and which he wanted
to practice until
he had it just right
she listened to him quietly
taking in
his hazel eyes
the wavy hair
and that
bright eyed stare
and he listened to her
gazing at her
as he did so
at her fair hair
held in metal hair grips
her blue eyes
her pale complexion
that nervousness
she seemed to have
as if her father
was going to leap out
at her from a bush
and the bruise
on her upper arm
he'd seen
when she removed
her cardigan
having got hot
in the midday sun
and after walking around
for a while
and then sitting
looking at some
old guy feeding birds
with broken bread
they bought two ice creams
and bottles of cola
and she said
a grace in Latin
and he mumbled
some Hebrew prayer
and they sat licking
and eating
and drinking
and once she kissed
his cheek shyly
and said they'd
best get home
before her father did
and he saw her
with him
the upstairs Jew
(as her father
termed him)
and gave her
what for
as soon
as she went
timidly
through the front door.
Oct 30, 2013
Oct 30, 2013 at 3:08 AM UTC
Baruch took the bus
to Kennington park
he wanted to see
a different place
away from the usual
the familiar sights
and people
he had brought
Fay along
having paid
her bus fare
and saying
they’d not be late
(she worrying
about her father
getting home from work
and finding
that she'd not
completed her
school essay
on The Ten Commandments)
and also
that she was with him
(whom her father
termed the Jew boy)
and he said it was better
if she never saw him
which was impossible
as they lived
in the same
block of flats
and went by
each other
on the stairs
but her mother knew
and said
to keep it quiet
and gave Fay a 1/-
for an ice cream
and drink of cola
they walked around
the park
she gazing
at the flowers
and butterflies
and birds
and he imagining
Injuns about
to pop out
of the bushes
or over
the small mound
(he called a hill)
on their mixed
coloured horses
and firing arrows
from their bows
or shooting
from rifles
and as he walked
he patted
the 6 shooter gun
in the holster
hanging
from the belt
of his jeans
( hidden
by his grey jacket)
she talked
of the nun at school
who slammed
a wooden ruler
on the palms
of girls
who didn't know
their catechism
all through
and the girl
who had her
legs slapped
for wearing
her school dress
too short
(she'd outgrown it
and her parents
couldn't afford another)
and he talked
of the cowboy film
he'd seen the other day
where the cowboy
wore his two guns
back to front
so that he had to
cross hands
to reach them
and still out drew
the bad guys
and which he wanted
to practice until
he had it just right
she listened to him quietly
taking in
his hazel eyes
the wavy hair
and that
bright eyed stare
and he listened to her
gazing at her
as he did so
at her fair hair
held in metal hair grips
her blue eyes
her pale complexion
that nervousness
she seemed to have
as if her father
was going to leap out
at her from a bush
and the bruise
on her upper arm
he'd seen
when she removed
her cardigan
having got hot
in the midday sun
and after walking around
for a while
and then sitting
looking at some
old guy feeding birds
with broken bread
they bought two ice creams
and bottles of cola
and she said
a grace in Latin
and he mumbled
some Hebrew prayer
and they sat licking
and eating
and drinking
and once she kissed
his cheek shyly
and said they'd
best get home
before her father did
and he saw her
with him
the upstairs Jew
(as her father
termed him)
and gave her
what for
as soon
as she went
timidly
through the front door.
SET IN LONDON IN 1950S.
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