it's either the magpie or the crow,
a complete dissociation
from the sparrow,
or the swallow...
                       eh... not even close to
the eagle...

          as ever, there's always
the proximate totem...

              lucky for me... it's a fox...

i once had a chance...
        drinking in a public park,
at night,
as you do, admiring the emerging
London horizon...
climbing over the fence,
chancing upon a teenage girl...

you want fear? you mute it,
frantic, and then you take
the responsible adult agenda...

   the clingy nature of this
feast was undeniable,
running to and fro,
for no particular reason,
a black cat emerged,
which i cuddled,
   became unnerving for
the poor creature,
gave her my mobile
(when i still had one)...

we were trying to find her friend,
they were at a party,
they had an argument...
we found her friend...
lying face down at a bus stop,

i sprinted over to her,
helped her get up,
took off my hoodie and put it
on her,
    ticked the cap,
hey, it's alright,
    she felt small in my size
of clothing,
   phoned one of her dads
(a black cabbie)
   told him the coordinates,
sat for a while
at a bus-stop,
   they obviously had to
take evidence in the form
of a photograph...
   the dad came,
in his black cab,
     and the two disorientated
teenagers went swiftly home...

but the potential was there...
                    exposed cleavage...
genuine fear
is a far cry from any mantra
of the implored...
it's muted...
   it's: at best, gesticulated
in a frantic variation
of body language...

          having seen it...
i'd guess i'd know
     what a hapless teenage
girl looks like,
   having just asked a stranger
coming out
from a park at night
over the fence for: help...

   curiosity...
           what if i was not circumcised?
that's a genuine question...
    choice, will...
i wasn't asked to be baptised,
but i was, hence my middle
name: conrad...
            but sure as ****
after a vindaloo
   i rejected confirmation;

and i didn't do the liberal
   "-esque" quasi revival
of sniffing up a hindu ***
or a buddhist's *******...
i went past the tonsure...
and started sniffing under
the kippah.