The adverts along
the canal can talk
in anyone’s language.
They are as clear
and as quaint
as pidgin:
FUCKY FUCKIES!
NON STOP! LIVE!
directing the drift
of clients,
the anonymous
losers and tourists,
who haunt
this brash locale
where, at our feet,
neon floats,
reflected
on dark water.
David Cooke won a Gregory Award in 1977 and has been widely published in the UK, Ireland and beyond. His most recent collection, Work Horses, was published in 2012 by Ward Wood Publishing. His next collection, A Murmuration, will be published by Two Rivers Press in 2015.
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