I SAT ON A PARK BENCH TODAY......

 

I sat on a park bench today.....

Not because I thought it the thing to do....

Or because I thought it poetic....

Not because I thought it would make me look artistic,,

Or thoughtful...

I sat on the park bench because I was tired...

My body was begging me

For a sit down

 

I sat on a park bench today

And..........in my sitting

Joined millions

Of sitters.....

All Sitting

Some on metal benches

Some on wooden

Yet all linked

By the same act

 

I sat on a park bench today...

Listening to a noise of teenagers

Pass me by

Muttering...

“Fucking perv...

Sat on his own on a fucking wooden bench”...

And so I felt I was committing an unspeakable crime

To ….just...sit there

Obviously being viewed with suspicion,

 

I sat on a park bench today

And wondered if it was politically correct

Because of my sex,

To sit and relax

Within reach of the general public

Who were here for a day out

Or to walk with loved ones

Past greenery and benches,hopefully bereft

Of single males

Possible murderers

Or sex fiends on the prowl

 

I sat on a park bench today,

And in doing so

Joined my parents

Forty years in the past

As they shared a drink of coffee

From a plastic thermos beaker that never fitted tight enough to it's flask,

And I

Shuffled my legs restlessly,

Wanting them to see that sitting was boring

The bench dull

And unrewarding

 

I sat on a park bench today

And as a train whizzed past

Someone was bowling

The ball leaving their frail lined hand

Their weak legs following it determinedly

Across the green

How long 'til I join them?

I wondered

As I stood

Wearily

To leave​