Palms cup
Mother-of-pearl
To the ***** laugh
Of a clean-limbed girl
Whose teeth are white
And whose lips are as fresh
As lemon squeezed
On living flesh,
Beneath a salmon sky
As the tide slides out
And as we wash them down
With velvet stout.

Then she carves a heart
That reads "Chips for 'rus"
On the backseat of
The East Kent bus.
A choir boy
And his girl guide
Whose shell is rough
But who's soft inside.