Raymond Miller- A Poem

Max’s

When the student nurses kicked us out

I tucked my white shirt collar in

a bright yellow crew-neck jersey.

Clarkie clocked the Common Room TV.

But what’ll we do with it anyway?

Well, I like The Avengers, he said,

you’ll watch documentaries on BBC2.

Always a quick answer, the sarky rejoinder

or a jibe at a piece of skirt’s expense

when we could be sharing soft, warm beds.

As the night guard hollered Hold on lads,

Clarkie claimed he’d bought the set

for a fiver off an SEN and was all for returning

to retrieve his cash. The guard phoned the police

and we ran as far as Max’s Hot Dog Stand.

I was weighing up onions, with or without,

when The Missing Link, aka

PC Robertson, felt my collar, turned me round.

A youth in a yellow jersey was seen….

I told Max later and hold the order.

The night guard looked me up and down,

shook his head, said his feller had his collar

inside, this one’s got his collar tucked out.

I checked and found that the man was right.

The Missing Link gibbered and jabbed

but the jig was up, there is a god

and at night he watches over good and bad

and knows you better than you know yourself.

Max was waiting with double onions

and mustard. It had been a night to savour.  

I walked home with my head held higher

and switched on The Ascent of Man.