Unclear Winter

July 2010
A father walks home
With Temerity
Temerity does not talk
But inspires fear

His heart falls
Ahead, horrid confrontation
Long foresaw’n
Children vandalising
His car

His children

He must strike-out
Inaction would show
Weakness and vulnerability
To the teenage hyenas
Haunting the homeland
Watching
From every derelict shadow

Appear weak
And they will feel obliged
To attack

Outnumbered
He would fall
Injured

Injured
He would fall
Prey

Pray
Mercy on me
Holy Father
For I must sin

His stick slashes
Towards his daughter
Who slides away
To his relief
His bellows counterpoint
Her shrieks
Of laughter

Another younger, wilder child
Spins broken glass
At his ass

His stick strikes
Shattered shards skyward

Crossing
The unswept stone-strewn paths
He reaches the steel door
Of his once-home
Now worthless
As he

Inside
Door slamming triggers light
Surging security
Electricity charged
Hourly
To his mobile phone

Inside
He pauses
And reflects

Before the recession
Of 2007
And the crash
Of 2008
This house
Was worth millions
Or more
Before the building societies
Collapsed bankrupt
By the score

Now there is no market value
No market
No values
No one can move
No one dare move

Empty speculations
Became secure shelter
For school-less children
Divine squatters rights

His wife waits
Fearfully
Beneath the sheets
Terrified of the future
And lack of future

No one can face
Fucking
For fear
Of procreation

Now only the children
Have children