As If It Was A Crime

Your mother had given you
a few coins to buy sweets

and on the way you met Fay
and you said

do you want to come
and buy some sweets?

and she said
I haven't any money

and you said
you can share mine

if you tell me what you like
but she said

my father wouldn't like it
if I had sweets he says

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poem by Terry Collett
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Infringement of the Rules

Any infringement of the rules
Or minor sin puts her head in
A spin, puts her soul just over
The edge, lingering there in mid
Air waiting for some dark demon
To snatch. Sister Angela rubs sins
From the black beads, utters long
Prayers from the tongue. She firmly
Wrestles with her demons in the bed,
In the cloisters, out there in the dark
Corners of the world, inside her head.
Her father used to say, your demons
Know you better than you do yourself;
They know your pitfalls, your small
Faults, your tiny imperfections that
Cling to your soul like dark bruises on
Fruit. Then he’d beat her black and blue
And leave her in her room to brood and
Suck in the emptiness of thick dark space.
She kisses the black beads as once she

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poem by Terry Collett
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Read The Book

Dolce said to read the book.
Don’t skip any pages though,
Lizzy; I want you to read it
From cover to cover. Ok lover,
You said and examined the
Book’s covers; the hard leather,
The well sewn pages. You knew
He wrote it without his name on
The spine with the title. It was
As he spoke, the words flowing
Across the page, the meaning
Carried on and over and into
Your head. You stopped on page
Nine; he’d written about the night
He’d screwed you five times, although
No name was mentioned, you knew
It was you. Even the bed and room
Were as it had been, written right
Down to the creaking springs and
The man next door banging on the

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poem by Terry Collett
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After Bike Ride

Jim's younger sister
Followed you everywhere
and stood watching

as you rode the old car
around the field
or whizzed around

on their motorbike
to the cheers and shouts
from the fence

Monica why don't you
go off and play
Jim said

yes
said Pete
her other brother

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poem by Terry Collett
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In Mrs Clarke's Wake

Mrs Clarke pushed
her battered bassinet
between market stalls

not listening
to the stallholder's
shouts and calls

Helen walked behind her mother
as told holding your hand
So I know where you are

Mrs Clarke had said
you sensed
Helen's small hand

in yours
her seven year old skin
touching your

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poem by Terry Collett
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Booze and Mahler and Sex.

If you want to come around
she said

bring a bottle of booze
and ring the bell twice

so you brought
a bottle of scotch

and rang twice
and she opened the door

and said
come in

and so you closed the door
and followed her

along the passageway
to the main room

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poem by Terry Collett
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Unwanted Gift.

Carmody said
what did you get
your old man
for his birthday?

well
you said
my sister and I
saved up

what money we could
siphoned off
some of our pocket money
took back

the empty beer bottles
to the off licence
did extra chores
for our mother

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poem by Terry Collett
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Two Bricks Over A Hole

You were sitting on the grass
outside your tent

at the base camp
along the road from Tangiers

smoking a cigarette
when Mamie came along

and stood with her arms folded
and her red hair damp

and her face flushed
like a spanked behind

Have you seen the latrines?
She asked

No not yet
you replied

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poem by Terry Collett
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Janice and You and Shared Love.

Janice met you
as you walked
across the bombsite
from the New Kent Road

to Meadow Row
you watched
as she trod
carefully over

bricks and stones
some half buried
under the settled
earth and mixed brick

her hands held out
like some tight-rope walker
and she saw you
and smiled

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poem by Terry Collett
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Helen and You and Six Pence Worth of Chips.

When Helen heard
that Pete Badam
had poked your guts
she said

why'd he do that?
I scored
a home goal
you replied

so? what's that
got to do
with anything?
she said

he caught me
off guard
you said
I'll get him back

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poem by Terry Collett
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