by James Walton

Sometimes it was my turn

to buy the shilling’s worth

of broken biscuits

from the new Summerhill shops

then the Ryans and me

would cut through the last paddock

for a watermelon

and the buckshot over our heads

broke up like comets

entering the atmosphere

we caught yabbies with the tin

and our crumbs we reckoned

floated all the way to China

decades later I ran into Johnny

at northlands car park

he killed that nice Buchanan kid

the lone cashier at the Drive In

with a sawn off shottie

when he was fourteen

now he’s just a tatt on Aids

but we had a laugh

I remember you allright Jimmy

how you brought down dragonflies

spitting out those stolen pips

your aim was that good

yeah but I only got community service

his toothless gums so wide

I could’ve been a dentist