Tuesday 5 December 2017

real hidden gems

        the laundrette
that old iranian sam owns
the naval officer- come- material cleaner
            two bouts of cancer later
he's still standing,
still working the machines
the tumble dryers
           sam an outlier
                           he dreams
of taking care
of    his sick mother, his mother
             a lover
               of London city
     dreamer of a home
he can never go  back to
   but his kids are scattered now
        across the world
they possess all sorts of degrees
                  elevation
they don't come to the shop
     any more   
                 
***

the soup kitchen
moses visits them all
   far and wide
across the city,
    to eat a meal, with others
companionship, it's what he seeks
  up right moses
with lots of stray papers in his bag
a steely gaze,
    a knowing
a hearty laugh
     that reverberates across
them all,
all those soulful places
filled with people
          in some kind of need
material and emotional
   this being human.
      
***

the church
   that self appointed
old pastor jack visits
     he takes my hand
     he tells me the angels came to him
         in his youth
his father died at war
    but never did they go hungry
         work 
his mother worked in a factory
         Jerusalem is alive in his mind
he hands me a bag of lavender
    and talks about mash and eel pie, 
   to listen is to be alive       
it's to arrive
                at a junction.

***

the real secret gems