streets are replete with them

like damp discarded jackets

mixed with leaves, fag-ends,

the silence of empty packets

 

emptied of crisps, milky bars

tampons cigarettes and pizzas

in trails of rustling emptiness

their hollowed echo greets us

 

my packet got emptied long ago

when she plundered my heart

I'm blown about the icy streets

itinerant and decaying street art

 

lately I've had better company

rubber gloves and masks galore

all of us used then abandoned

like a worn-out Memphis whore

 

no way back from the streets

one-way traffic to the dump

should have treated her better

I've paid for being a chump