WHAT HAVE YOU THERE?

A BOY AND GIRL IN LONDON IN 1950S AND CIGARETTE SMOKING AGED 8

What have you there?
Janice asks

I show her
the 10 Weights
cigarettes packet

where'd you find them?

outside
the Duke of Wellington pub
some one
must have dropped them
I say

she looks at them
then at me

what are you going
to do with them?

give them
to my old man
I guess
he smokes these

won't he want
to go
how you came
by them?

he won't care
he never
asks questions
like that

I put the cigarettes
in the back pocket
of my jeans

my gran asks me
all questions
Janice says
I am so open
with her
because I can't tell
a lie to her
she seems to know

will you tell her
I found the smokes?

not if
she doesn't
ask me

I smoked a cigarette
once or twice
I tell her

where'd you get
a cigarette from?

I made it
out of cigarette
butt ends I found
and borrowed
a cigarette paper
from my uncle
(he didn't know)
and made one

her eyes enlarge

did you smoke it?

yes of course

what did it
taste like?

bitter
and made me
cough and splutter
I say

she puts her hand
to her mouth
her blue eyes
stare at me
as if I'd said
a rude word
or plucked feathers
from a living bird.