JACKET POTATOES
when we were
kicked out of the pub
in the early hours
of the morning
we would sometimes
go back to
Big Jock Bob's house
and he would shout
up the stairs
– waking half the
neighbourhood
in the process –
and get his wife
out of bed
to come down
and make us coffee
and sandwiches
and when he got
a microwave oven
we had to go round
that night too
and his wife
had to get up
and do us
jacket potatoes
so we could see
how quickly they cooked
he was so proud
of the fact
that they only took
about five minutes
I didn't like to say
mine was still hard
in the middle
and besides
his wife might not
have got up again
ELDERLY JESUS
I always seemed to see him
around the city
with his long white hair
and beard
and in the summer
wearing only shorts
I imagined him to be
an artist of some description
and then just before Christmas
I visited a craft fair
and he was there
with his miniature paintings
of religious scenes
and it struck me
that he resembled
an elderly Jesus
maybe returned from the dead
• Colin Cross is a regular IS&T contributor, he lives in Norwich and has had poetry published in small press zines throughout the UK, Europe and USA.
