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Terry Collett
Poems
May 2014
JANICE AND THE PLAGUE OF LONDON.
Mr Fin
thin
moustached
and grey suited
talked
of the Plague of London
in 1665
and people dying
and red crosses
on doors
and rats and ships
and BRING OUT
YOUR DEAD
being yelled
through
the narrow streets
we sat enthralled
taking in
the history lesson
Dennis drew a cross
on his palm
in red ink
(he had a job
to get that off
in recess)
and said
I bet he was there
old Fin
bet he was a kid
back then
it was almost
three hundred
years ago
I said
this is 1956
Dennis shrugged
his shoulders
and kept
to his theory
I watched the teacher
and how his hand
wrote so neatly
on the board
and drew a picture
of streets
with doors
with red crosses
and shadowy people
hanging round
Janice sat to my right
her eyes glued
to the board
as Mr Fin
wrote and drew
her chin
in the palm
of her thin hand
scribbling
in her exercise book
with her right hand
I liked her fair hair
the way it flowed
over her shoulders
like water
over rocks
the way her fingers
touched her cheek
as her palm
held the chin
another girl
sat next to her
some fat girl
with black hair
and a thin
faint moustache
and earrings
I liked Janice's
pink ear
showing through
a gap
in her hair
then Fin said
next time
we'll talk
of the Great Fire
of London
in 1666
Dennis stuck gum
under his desk
Janice closed her book
and gave me
her engagingΒ Β
young girl look.
SCHOOL CHILDREN IN 1950S LONDON.
Written by
Terry Collett
Sussex, England
(Sussex, England)
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418
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