Poem 14

A teacher of mine … nice guy, young man, first view from the sidelines of tragedy … I’m twice as old as him now … the confusion in the first two lines is to suggest something of his mental state …

… Geography seemed to be all about ‘essential industries’ back then …

Mr. Flowers

An orange the size of a tumour
or was it the other way round?
he wore it under a white woolly cap
          his wife knitted who was a nurse
          and knew everything to do
          but how to save him
in the end he couldn't remember anything
and numerous comic incidents occurred
before he died
we learnt no Geography
for six months
                          while he stepped slowly off the map
drawn by the essential industry
busy
under his thinking cap