1.
As luck would have it I was born
within touching distance of silver-plated
cutlery only used with guests, and only
then if the guests were worth flattering.
It may not have been raining still the rules
meant I’d to wear a hat made of either
felt or straw depending upon the direction
of the prevailing winds. Sometimes
I might understand what people were saying
other times it was necessary to imagine
there was no such thing as other people.
I think I was related to the people who lived
in the house. I could be wrong about that
but I’ve never been known to be wrong.
2.
In my bedroom I locked the door, dropped
the bespoke steel shutters over the windows,
and imagined the Muses of Poesy at my bedside.
I would give vent with the help of my pen
to the glory of a happy childhood, absolutely
sure that almost certainly the irony was beyond
my years. Lions prowled the park in the dark.
This may have happened in dreams during
sleep. Many if not all the best things do that.
There are, by the way, trusted ways to prevent
the world growling at you in the night-time.
Let me know if you require further details;
send a stamped and self-addressed envelope.
.
C.J. Driscoll
.