My bad back is back, back to being bad

They run like noses in my family

My mum’s bad back is back, and once my dad

Slipped a disc, face frozen in agony

My brother can’t slack; fact is, his money

Grows from cleaning rows of windows, and so

When he goes up his ladder, mad is he

When his bad back gets badder, don’t you know?

But back to my bad back: in days of snow

Delivering papers, twice daily, I had

A big bag on my shoulder, holding the

Times supplements, uncoupling spine joints: no

Straight back till a year later. Just injured

My back running on park tracks. On sickie…