it would be good for this old duffer to write it in the present tense
On 12/03/2020 20:44, Bill Wootton wrote:
> Thanks for the push, Doug.
>
> Bill
>
> On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 at 5:33 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Yes, this gets us into the story sit happens right away, Bill.I think it’s
>> much better, & part of the whole developing…
>>
>> Doug
>>
>>> On Mar 11, 2020, at 8:27 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Cracker night at Crouch’s (2)
>>>
>>>
>>> Crowded with lego pieces and meccano whatsits,
>>>
>>> Crouch’s kitchen bristled with red and yellow.
>>>
>>> Waxed Home Pride bread wrapping added orange
>>>
>>> Jamie leaned over the laminex table, wheezing.
>>>
>>> From somewhere under the house an engine burbled.
>>>
>>> Jamie’s mother could be heard pottering, somewhere else.
>>>
>>>
>>> Let’s go outside, I suggested.
>>>
>>> Hunks of fibreglass and metal
>>>
>>> landmined the unmowed backyard
>>>
>>> Footwear was essential. No back fence
>>>
>>> to mark off the yard from the lane behind.
>>>
>>> The very place for Guy Fawkes Night -
>>>
>>>
>>> Jumping Jacks popping on cracked concrete,
>>>
>>> the cordite stench of exploded penny bungers,
>>>
>>> eyes hauling into night sky tracking skyrockets
>>>
>>> launched from a brown beer bottle or lead pipe
>>>
>>> by Jamie’s older brother, Peter, obeying the directive to
>>>
>>> ‘Ignite the blue touch-paper and retire.’
>>>
>>>
>>> The bedrock bonfire blazed and sputtered,
>>>
>>> fed by garden trimmings and grey fence palings.
>>>
>>> Sparkler-lit words hung in the air while thoughts fizzed.
>>>
>>> A Catherine Wheel, nailed to the garage door,
>>>
>>> shed coloured sparks as it twirled and spat,
>>>
>>> leaving things not-quite-dark when it finished.
>>>
>>>
>>> Stringy, grey-white wicks linked our
>>>
>>> rippling green and red cracker keyboards.
>>>
>>> Jamie, bolting back from the detonation zone,
>>>
>>> lost a thong and never broke stride, landing
>>>
>>> back in it with his next still-running step.
>>>
>>> He stood, heaving, in his oversized hand-me-down shorts.
>>>
>>>
>>> The yard a week later still bore cracker detritus,
>>>
>>> remains of red print on damaged white paper,
>>>
>>> door scorch-marks, broken glass.
>>>
>>> Jamie plodded back to his Lego bricks.
>>>
>>> Started snivelling again.
>>>
>>> Mrs Crouch somewhere inside.
>>>
>>>
>>> bw
>>>
>>> 12.3.20
>>>
>>>
>>> Bill
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>>
>> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations
>> 2 (UofAPress).
>> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>> Listen. If (UofAPress):
>>
>>
>> Done in by creation itself.
>>
>> I mean the gods. Not us. Well us too.
>> The gods moved into books. Who wrote the books?
>> We wrote the books. In whose dream, then are we dreaming?
>>
>> Robert Kroetsch
>>
>>
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>>
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