this is a combination of two poems


Body One (suite)

Body one

He realized his life had reached a disturbing stage
found himself in an argument with spouse
about
which particular shade of magnolia
to paint the hall.
It all took place in a store
with constant pa announcement
like a railway station
or an airport departure lounge
but without the exciting anticipation of a holiday
The digitized voice introduced
not palm trees, or sunny shores
but bargain aisles of masking tape.
It called for assistants, 17 year olds who gape,
drop jawed and vacant,
when challenged with
OAPs in checkout queues.
The turmoil over which type of galvanized screw
they should really use
when fixing external cladding.

In one aisle, he noted rechargeable solar rock lights.
They have the audacity to believe no drunk  will ever steal them from the gardens
and use them as day-glow cricket balls
for night-time entertainment.
He thought the world was going mad
trudged silently aghast
silently asked-
What was he doing,
surrounded by all of this?
introduction:

"When ‘we’ finally did choose the paint
Silk or matt, it ain’t something
I want to do again, but I know I will and that I have to
all that squatting in the Que
4 hours-just to leave a sodding car park
and at the last minute
the sprogs bark in the back of the car
declared a desire for ice cream
-the sods poured it all over the  leather seats
never again, never again
and then it started raining
and the wiper blades failed
my arms flailed
and we had to go back inside

despite the downpour
optimistic people trudge deluded
the open sandal shoes
mostly middle age
mostly starting to lose all hair
middle class
pairs peering out
over stacks of double glazed glass
his n hers
debating their desires
arguing the toss
on gas stoves or electric fires

a backdrop to the perfectly arranged
aisles of choice.
and
The heartless manipulators
Watch from sonic sockets
Their smoked Perspex spheres hide cameras
They scan for bulging pockets
then zoom in on you
demonstrably devise
New and invigorating ways
In which to stimulate us.
 Parallel run the shelves
Parabolic the mirrors
Demented the minimum wage elves
Stacking row upon row
For endless pockets we delve
For things we don’t really need
But like any hob knobbed biscuit greed
We lap it up anyway
And feel guilty
As the guarantee that came with these consumer disposables
Is invalid
Its disclaimer is greed and stupidity.
The push bike exercise machine
Cheaply Made in Korea
Lasted only seventy nine miles
Before the plastic wheel shot off
And decapitates a noisy neighbor
Or was that your imagination
it never happened and he pats the fat
gets
tugged by a child
realizes that
this is  all he might ever be
a cardboard cut out
in b n q a body
slowly becoming a disaster
Traipsing a like a zombie
The wife and 2.2 calibre kids
All four of them
Like zombies
and they scanned them
the bars on their heads
for  more pot plants and garden furniture
and leaden legs they walked away
and the pa
sounds now, like the words to song
body one to the till
body 2 body 3 body 4
body 1 body 2 body 3 body 4
all of you numbers