You are circling The Two Ronnies
in the Christmas issue of The TV Times
(that you didn’t buy) with a borrowed ballpoint pen
you needed to lick to get going. It’s your twelfth circle.
You’re wondering how many VHS tapes we have
and ask, again, what time lunch will be tomorrow
because you cannot miss the Queen’s speech
but you can’t be heard from the kitchen
so you ask, louder, what time lunch will be tomorrow
because you cannot miss the Queen’s speech.
Patient slippers walk into the living room
to deliver your answer. You doff your flat cap
and ask me if I’ve written anything lately
and I tell you how I’m not really into that
anymore.

© Carl Burkitt 2022