Four Favours

Saw her in a bar on
Upper Street
A favour:
Can I be cheeky
And pinch a cigarette?
The packet smiles
A small spark, then small talk
And we are knowing each other
Gradually, in small bursts
Smoke flutes to a yellow ceiling
Words fall to open ears

I am out of cash, out of bounds
A second favour:
Do you know any other bars
With en-face cashpoint?
She senses
And we are gone to black lines
Through tunnels to caverns
Subterranean bars we find
We discover much in common

But now it’s late
And I don’t know this place
Half as well
As I do her
Another favour:
Is there a night bus
Or a reputable taxi?
Now she laughs
And we roll to her pad
Hollow chintz and plastered rental
The spare room is made
And remains so

Next morning
Push my hair nervously
Hide my legs
Her cardigan arms folded
The door easily marked
Here’s my e-mail address
Informally rebuff me sometime
Leave my Inbox (0)
Us@onenightonly.com
And I taste her
On the central line

Soon forgotten
But one day
In between football fixtures and discount CDs
Inbox (1)
I open the attachment
Reads
“Ruth 020 7527 2610
For Favours”

Rocket science

UNCTAD, IMF, PSBR
initialising failure...
failure complete

“Mr Willsher,
could you tell the class
the answer to question three
June ninety-two paper?”

well Sir, I must say
economics has been invaluable
I cannot understate
the kudos I have achieved
from dropping craftily into conversation
“oligopoly... hyperbole... deadweight welfare loss”
but I must confess
I never understood
what any of it meant

too many lessons
pen dribbling across the page
I have thanked the God I rarely believe in
for your not picking me
to answer a question

but now thirty pairs of eyes focus on me
with a one in four chance
the mocking smile of an elastic demand curve
or is it a supply curve?
I never noticed the textbook was in Chinese

“Come on Mr Willsher it’s not rocket science”