stevie smith was the
greatest poet of her
age, but what’s her
age got to do with it

just recently discovered
   christina rossetti on a second
hand book stall
  down the market there were
others shouting their wares so much louder,
   but who cares

use a stick since my stroke
approximately four years
ago it was when I last ran for a
bus, but I don’t miss it

aren’t as many second hand
bookshops on the charing cross road as
there were when I was younger
of course, so were they   ..

ate our sandwiches sitting
on the steps leading up to
the art gallery
it’s a matter of taste, she says

love museums full of stone age
artefacts, the odd roman sandal or two
and victorian pottery, and all
those insects skewered beneath glass cases
not solved by pulling faces
at what our ancestors got up to

can’t see a way out at all
     wherever one looks there’s just wall
    and yes, one solitary gate
      whereby they gather to await
    the old fool