Strange handshake, borrower

Plugs into deep sea darkness

 

John the Baptist turns

On the aluminium kitchen taps

The River Jordan has turned radioactive

 

Vultures in the gym flex and strain

Through cluttered concrete layers

 

Vultures pounding dents from floor removed

No electricity in the gym

Nigel talking about milkshakes

 

The monsters under the bed

Are just mismatched suitcases

 

The deluded prophet in times of cold darkness

On borrowed time

 

Clocking off in my youth in my home town

Waiting for the no. 19 bus under the heady lilac blossom

 

The rainbow casts a colourless shadow

On the bus stop where The Lost Prophet

Waits for the late number 92

 

Lend us a fiver

Horror in technicolour

but we’ll be OK won’t we

With Jesus, John and Genesis

In the gym.