Christmas Shopping
Again today it's a moving pizza parlour Xmas shopping spree;
and I'm squeezed in the steamed-up 37 and the seasonal sneezing
amid floppy wedges of undercooked white pastry
and waxy cheese in round child-mouths; the stench is nauseating.
But I must be tolerant. It's Xmas after all.
There's a blind girl with a beautifully sad face like a soft moon
to fall in love with. Unfortunately she gets off at the next stop.
I get out my latest Duffy. A couple gets on. She, an old bear
in mink's clothing with kid gloves sits vis-a-vis. He,
in his trench-coat, stands swan-necking over my shoulder.
Bored with his eyes in my book; I can almost feel his warm
unpleasant breath on my nape, I snap The World's Wife shut.
Now he's pushing up to the front; berating the driver; it's a real
Xmas shopping brainstorm. They've missed the stop.
* Gwilym Williams is a regular contributor to IS&T – this is a seasonal offering from his recent collection Genteel Messages
