Car park’s dead, bottle banks castle corners,
rain shuffles across empty spaces.

Shopping trolleys block Safeway’s exit,
mongrels sniff for action,
high tail it behind the Co-op.

The security man adores TV,
knowing the hours he’ll not live.

Then they arrive! Wearing rainbows
accuse grey,
from a world where melancholia is banned,
minor keys forcibly discouraged,
laughter, optimism obligatory.

Dog can’t believe its luck-
reversed and made a God!

They begin to dance, bang drums,
outrageous coloured costumes,
flattering air,
play violins, guitars, such joyful music-
shopping trolleys clapping
a synchronised beat.

This transcendental moment evaporates,
the dog witnessed events,
his tail’s unreliable.

The security man lost in a DVD,
the rest, us, too busy
watching rain attacking empty spaces.

Tom Kelly

To appear in the
Five Leaves Anthology ‘The Night’
You can buy from inpress books:
http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/the_night_shift_michael_baron_andy_croft_jenny_swann_i019694.aspx