I didn’t have the courage
to paint my teenage fingernails black
so I wore polished, buckled loafers
and peppermint Ben Sherman shirts
sneaking into nightclubs.
Toffee vodka was my eyeliner,
Ozzy Osbourne’s bat was a chicken kebab
lying on my vacuumed bedroom carpet
screaming midnight David Gray lyrics.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Written while listening to ‘Every Me and Every You’ by Placebo.