He learnt at an early age
\nTo deliver taxed dreams to
\nHis breakfast table, where
\nHe shared the fruit-juice and the papers
\nWith his wife –
\nSpreading marmalade with
\nA small silver knife on their
\nThinly sliced toast –
\nBitter-orange marmalade to match
\nTheir bitter orange destiny –
\nListening to the news –
\nRushing into the day believing it
\nTo be important –
\nDriving over flyovers –
\nA quick drink with Tom
\nWondering where his favourite tart had gone –
\nHer address lay sprawled in his diary –
\nThe one he kept at the office
\nUnder a pile of Time & Tide and the
\n\u2018Country Gentleman\u2019
\nThe devil you will find is a snob –
\nWhose club is somewhere off Charing-Cross –
\nGod waits near the end of the Heath –
\nAs a tax is put on fornication, dreams,
\nNew rugs and that drug which keeps
\nYouth locked into old men\u2019s groins
\nAnd lets fading women rich and vain
\nBelieve they can be young again –
\nFalse declarations of courage and love –
\nFalls from the cunning careerist\u2019s lips –
\nAs he eyes a woman he wants for the night –
\nYet with surprise she leaves abruptly
\nWhile he\u2019s still coughing out his words –
\nThen his ardent breath smelling
\nOf too much Guinness almost stops
\nHis throat up –
\nShe didn\u2019t hear a word – and he is furious –
\nNot being able to hatch his sex
\n10
\nOut of himself into her –
\nBut he bends like a sharp green reed
\nAnd decides to catch the last train home –<\/p>\n
Sh\u00e4nne Sands
\nfrom the selection Moonlight on Words published by FootSteps Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He learnt at an early age To deliver taxed dreams to His breakfast table, where He shared the fruit-juice and the papers With his wife – Spreading marmalade with A small silver knife on their Thinly sliced toast – Bitter-orange marmalade to match Their bitter orange destiny – Listening to the news – Rushing into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[478,650,833],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-moonlight-on-words","tag-shanne-sands","tag-the-day-of-the-cunning-careerist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2404,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions\/2404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}