It’s midnight.
The men with foreheads
like thumb knuckles are singing
and the rest of the train is
waiting for violence. It comes
10 minutes later
in the shape of miss-hit notes
in the chorus of Jingle Bells.

Carl Burkitt 2023

The bloke in the pub says
he likes watching snooker
because the ever changing
formation of the table
reminds him of the struggle
he and his wife had deciding
where the baubles should go
on their Christmas tree until
the year she died.

Carl Burkitt 2023

If I’m walking
and I start thinking
about how I don’t need to think
to make my legs start walking,
I stop walking.

Carl Burkitt 2023

He’s a sheep
in the pre-school nativity sitting with
his hind legs crossed on a gym class floor mat.
His eyes are focused.
His hips are dancing.
His woolly back is a long sleeve T-shirt
clinging to his chest like song lyrics
to a three-year-old brain.
The hall is a time machine for the adults:
a chance to see a small face like theirs stuck
to a body willing to run into an unknown field
and see how far it can stretch.

Carl Burkitt 2023

That reindeer serving sandwiches
in the cafe is not a real reindeer.
It’s just a man dressed as a reindeer.
I can tell because it doesn’t have four legs
and reindeers don’t have hands to hold trays.
It’s not a real reindeer. Reindeers work with Santa.
It’s just a man delivering sandwiches
while dressed as a reindeer
and it’s very important I understand
what is real and what is not
because I am still developing the ability to trust
and that man is not a real reindeer.

Carl Burkitt 2023

A reindeer is serving sandwiches
in the cafe. He is standing on his back legs,
balancing the tray of lunches on his front hooves.
He’s not talking to the customers
because he is a reindeer. His name badge says
Joe and his red nose looks as plastic as the antlers
on his head and the smile on his face.

Carl Burkitt 2023

Martin Scorsese is in Cheadle Hulme Costa
eating a mince pie tart with the woman
who volunteers at Oxfam on Wednesdays.
His body is soft inside the red booth.
His fringe is gently out of place.
His thick rimmed glasses jiggle
when the woman says something cheeky
about her sister’s Christmas jumper
and he isn’t bothered by the pastry
crumbs on his suit jacket.

Carl Burkitt 2023

He rushes in from the rain
and pushes to the front of the queue.
He orders a coffee,
tuts that it has to be made
before the till has even tasted his change.
He folds his fingers into a hoof
and punches his phone
until it calls one of his contacts.
What? You told me 11, not 10.30. You idiot!
He rushes out of the cafe
so fast
his charity staff lanyard falls
out of his coal-coloured chinos.

Carl Burkitt 2023

The referee,
without telling anyone,
swapped the football with a Christmas bauble
right before kick off.
It took the players 20 minutes to notice
and only because one of them checked
their Twitter account
when the bauble went out of play.

Carl Burkitt 2023