Logos and slogans

Logos and slogans get washed away

From where they were once proudly displayed

To be seen emblazoned on garments.

Once they were badges

That used to say:

‘I am this type  of person’.

Or that ‘I like this music’,

Or that ‘I believe in this cause’,

Or ‘I can afford to shop at this shop.’

They could even say

‘Don’t look at me, I’m so ordinary

That I want to wear the same logos

As everybody else.’

But the washing machine of time

Keeps on repeating its cycles;

At first it eats away the edges

Of logos and slogans,

Then maybe a letter or two

Until logos and slogans

No longer say

What they were intended to say

May be reflecting passion

Decomposing into uncertainty

‘Sto the Wa’

Doesn’t have the same ring anymore

‘P’ and ‘R’ have gone down the drain.

They’ll never be coming back again.

WHAT A TAIMEN IS

 Yesterday there was a cold grey sky

And I stayed indoors hoping

That winter was dying,

Or at least, starting to die

Because I saw a magpie fly by

With a stick in its beak.

It was staring to build a new nest

In time to rob other nests,

Whilst I coughed and wheezed,

Snivelled and spat

As I sat in a cold flat.

But at least I learned something new.

So now I know without a doubt

That a taimen is

A large carnivorous Siberian trout.

 

 

 

Semi-detached vans

There are people living on this street,

Who are not living in this street.

Which at first glance

Seems like a neat street,

Lined with houses that are discreet,

Semi-detached almost identical

Painted white or cream,

Gable ends ornamented

With pseudo-Tudor beams.

And plenty of shiny new cars

And four by fours

Parked outside or on driveways.

And then there are the second-hand vans,

With old, faded logos on the side

Left over from when these vans

Were used to deliver

Bread or jam or glue or shoes.

Vans parked in different places

On different days.

Homes outside houses

But one small step up

From a cardboard box shack

In a shop doorway;

Or a tent under the motorway.

But anyway,

A cold and lonely way to get by

Semi-detached from the semi-detached

Semi-detached from society

By an inhuman human economy.