Peckham Rye Lane
Polyester hair
Asian groceries, cash only, fish tanks
Menthol flavoured cigar
Black mothers lined up at the bank
Dreadlock wash and retwist for 30 pounds
Microbreweries, gold chains and sapphires, dusty Gin bottles at Off-license
And there’s a puddle
Five pounds cinema
Pawn shops, pawn shops, pawn shops
Piercing business and their dog Simba
6-feet mannequin with majestic tits
Tattooist needling down Samurai and Geisha on both thighsWe don’t sell alcohol, BYOB
Help Centre Free Lunch
Skateboarders carouseling the streets
Fried pastries rolled on sugar, three for a pound, midnight munchies
Heroine addict on diarrhoea crisis on her feet
And then there’s another puddle
Garbage truck going back and forth, wayward dreams none taken
(Wait, the addict lady, her arms are just too clean)
Move move, nail salon Chinese bitch!
Besides pubs, gigs, and standing still, there’s no other future plans
A blondie waving at white margins, dark bruises on her knees
Did you get your angel wings from Primark to spray some graffities?
It’s 9 a.m., Sunglasses
A puppy-haired lad
With an awkward smile
When you’re spraying, wave your arms constantly. So there’s no puddles left on the walls
(C’mon, you weren’t this awkward last night at my place)
Still, usual, amplified stench for this morning, again
It’s piss
Cocaine
And imported seafoods
Fuck. This is real. Look at this shop. What are they selling? This is so cool. Wicked. This is so authentic. Used phones. Dried fish. Uniforms soaked in blood. Jerk chicken on the barrels. Snails.
Early evening on a Friday
A twenty-seven-year-old man fatally stabbed
Flowers coiled on a telephone pole, and I love you, I miss you my son
I miss you our son
This is so cool. I love it. All the fatal lives. Young lads shouting with neonatal blue eyes
John, James, William, Benjamin, Oliver, Nathaniel, Alexander, All the young lads
(2022)