<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Powerless in Town at Half-Past Nine<\/strong><\/p>\n The pharmacist in her white coat and I As far as a shopper\u2019s eye can\u2019t see, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Robert Etty<\/strong> lives in Lincolnshire. His most recent collection, Passing the Story Down the Line<\/em>, was published by Shoestring Press in 2017.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Powerless in Town at Half-Past Nine The pharmacist in her white coat and I are conducting a \u00a34.99 transaction when the power\u2019s cut off all over town. With her cash tray exposed in the strange false dusk she fumbles me five pound coins and a penny, and tells me how lucky I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17631"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17715,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions\/17715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nare conducting a \u00a34.99 transaction
\nwhen the power\u2019s cut off all over town.
\nWith her cash tray exposed in the strange false dusk
\nshe fumbles me five pound coins and a penny,
\nand tells me how lucky I am.
\nI\u2019m working this out when a twilit voice calls,
\n\u2018We\u2019re so sorry – would you all leave?\u2019<\/p>\n
\nthe rest of the shops are in twilight as well.
\nShop assistants decline to assist
\nand shepherd customers back from their counters,
\napologising for being ungracious
\nas shades of Schadenfreude descend.
\nPower being granted\u2019s taken for granted,
\nacknowledged only when it won\u2019t jump at
\nthe finger snap of a switch or a socket.
\nRight now, for instance, no one can spend,
\nand purchasing\u2019s the spice of life, that gives it
\nall its flavour.\u00a0 Tills have ceased chinging,
\npurses have clamped and jaws have fallen open.
\nThe power to prevent has wielded itself
\nand preventing it wasn\u2019t an option.
\nLife\u2019s wired for such possibilities,
\nbut possible\u2019s not the same as frequent,
\nand any unlikelihood\u2019s always likely
\nif no one thinks it is.\u00a0 (The library lends books
\non chance and frequency, but its computers
\nare down.)
\nIn a flash, like a blessing,<\/span>
\ndisconnections are reconnecting
\nand power surges in on a rush of current.
\nReenergised, we get back to business,
\ncontactlessly, with acceptable PINs,
\nempowered to overfill baskets and trolleys,
\nor say, \u2018It\u2019s nice, but no thank you.\u2019
\nPower plays, power points and power showers,
\nso more power once more to everyone\u2019s elbow,
\ntappable into omnipotently.
\nThe balance of power has tipped in our favour,
\nbut storing an elbowsworth might make sense,
\nin the light of the chance of a lights-out.<\/p>\n