FAIRGROUND NIGHT

A BOY AND HIS LIFE IN 1950S LONDON.

When Lynch said in class
hey Benedict I can beat you
in a fight couldn’t I?
not wanting to

disappoint him
you said
yes sure
but you knew

you could have
taken him out
but why prove it
you thought

sitting beside O’Brien
in the science lab
before the teacher
entered the room

if it made him happy
to go around class
seeing how many boys
he could beat

why make him unhappy
and O’Brien was scratching
the name Elvis
into the desk

with a penknife
some singer he liked
his inky finger pressing
the knife blade

into the soft wood
you thought of the evening before
at the fairground
on the bombsite off

Meadow Row
with 2/6
your mother gave you
(advanced pocket money)

and firing an air rifle
at the rifle range
at ducks going across
a metal lake

Ingrid at your shoulder
her wire framed glasses
slightly askew
where her old man

had slapped her head
you won a prize
(shooting down
so many ducks

or some such luck)
and handed the cuddly toy
to her
for me?

she said
yes I don’t want it
you said
she hugged it

to her chest
you then had a ride
on a dodgem car
she sitting beside you

screaming when other cars
came towards you
then you had a go
at the coconut stall

eventually after two goes
knocking off a coconut
with Ingrid jumping
up and down with excitement

it’s just a coconut
you said
I know
she said

but you won one
after a few more turns
at this and that
you had a 1/- left

which you stuffed
in your pocket
for Saturday matinee
(unless you could prise

a few more shillings
out of your old man)
and Ingrid walked back
to the flats

through the Square
the skies getting dark
I’ll have to hide this toy
she said

or my dad will want to know
where I got it  
ok
you said

and watched
as she climbed the stairs
to the flat
above and along

clutching the cuddly toy
to her tight
then O’Brien said
look out here comes Lee

and you looked over
at the classroom door
as the squat Welshman
entered to a hushed silence

like the brief stillness
before a dance.