Black Cab Conversation

He said
You got that broadband then
What's it like ?
I said
It's like the difference between pedals
And a motorbike
He said
I was going to try it free for sixty days
- NTL cable
But the wife wouldn't let me put no wires
Under the kitchen table
I said
You don't need wires these days
You can do it wireless
He said
Plug the computer into the radio ?
Blimey, what will they think of next
I laughed
Then spent 15 minutes explaining and extolling
Standards 802.11b & g
He said
You know who I had in this cab the other day ?
Tim Berners-Lee

DFRW 28th September 2004

The Move

Removal men, in overalls
Wheeling cupboards, wardrobes,
Crates, boxes, teachests and the like
The green van, it's great white letters
Ten feet high and fifty wide
Standing patient, quiet,
In leafy and autumnal Lilac Drive.
A small bird twitters, darting in and out
The repeated territorial refrain
"Careful of my life" and "Put that there."
A steady plod of booted feet
The slow draining of an old bath
Water slipping through a mess of hair
Foam slowly melting, loud at last
Rooms bereft, hard, now echo emptily
Bangs sounding louder and more wooden
Even though (in sight at least)
They shift with tender care
Like vergers carry hymnbooks.
The future goes outwards, onwards
Restitution a promise, chains pulled
And tightened, airbrakes hiss
Ropes and pads won't slip
The driver knows the way, he does
A thousand miles a week
With just occasional delay.
Men and van are gone
Lilac Drive returns to scale
The final lock-up, secure yet
Not for you now, only
Empty bottles on the step,
One bare light bulb in the hall
And a cheery welcome note
To inhabitants unknown
Pinned to the kitchen wall
In the pale rectangle
Where the calendar once hung.


DFRW 4th October 2004

L'Infant

Baby Dribbling Sibling
Nibbling Spitting Shitting
Gurgling Wailing Weeping
Sleeping Waking Sleeping
Waking Taking Taking
Taking Sleeping Waking
Baby Booby Baba
Mama Papa Mama
Suckling Sweety Duckling
Chuckling Cooing Pooing
Spewing Snotting Mewling
Mauling Standing Falling
Rolling Not Yet Crawling
Cuty Booty Bib
Nappy Crappy Happy
Babby Chubby Daddy
Mummy Tummy Yummy
Gummy Chummy Bummy
Runny Costing Lots of Money


DFRW 1st October 2004