In order to impress me
the man who owned the carpet shop
on Caledonian Road, north London
told me the place where we were sitting
after swallowing Acid was the original
Itchycoo Park, recorded in the 60s
I had no reason to doubt him
The pulsating veins on even
the most mundane of leaves were
fascinating, juicy. I saw a smiling
caterpillar. His wife ran a button stall
in Lower Holloway, not just buttons
obviously, but coloured cotton reels,
various items of haberdashery
I don’t know why he lied,
it made no difference to the Acid
In this regard, north London
humans are identical
to their Martian counterparts
but without the square antennae
Steven Taylor
.