JANICE AND THE PLAGUE OF LONDON.

Mr Fin
thin
moustached

 

and grey suited
talked
of the Plague of London

 

in 1665
and people dying
and red crosses

 

on doors
and rats and ships
and BRING OUT

 

YOUR DEAD
being yelled
through

 

the narrow streets
we sat enthralled
taking in

 

the history lesson
Dennis drew a cross
on his palm

 

in red ink
(he had a job
to get that off

 

in recess)
and said
I bet he was there

 

old Fin
bet he was a kid
back then

 

it was almost
three hundred
years ago

 

I said
this is 1956
Dennis shrugged

 

his shoulders
and kept
to his theory

 

I watched the teacher
and how his hand
wrote so neatly

 

on the board
and drew a picture
of streets

 

with doors
with red crosses
and shadowy people

 

hanging round
Janice sat to my right
her eyes glued

 

to the board
as Mr Fin
wrote and drew

 

her chin
in the palm
of her thin hand

 

scribbling
in her exercise book
with her right hand

 

I liked her fair hair
the way it flowed
over her shoulders

 

like water
over rocks
the way her fingers

 

touched her cheek
as her palm
held the chin

 

another girl
sat next to her
some fat girl

 

with black hair
and a thin
faint moustache

 

and earrings
I liked Janice's
pink ear

 

showing through
a gap
in her hair

 

then Fin said
next time
we'll talk

 

of the Great Fire
of London
in 1666

 

Dennis stuck gum
under his desk
Janice closed her book

 

and gave me
her engaging  
young girl look.

 

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