On the station the aging Nazi skinhead
is just another baldy now, he’s
finished his last minute Xmas shopping.
Poking out from his festive T-shirt
those swastika tattoos on his neck
have paled to a gunmetal grey.

Torn cotton shorts on a multicoloured rail station,
it seems like all his arguments have been fought to exhaustion.
A smiling Moslem woman & her decorated pram pass,
Excuse me.

He carries a fist like some limp Kris Kringle
but there’s no party left, his
festive ham sweats on the seat beside him.

Rejoice – like all the other energies, hate fades.
Let it rain, let it sour.
Mistletoe & other plastic celebrations are
relentlessly bright. He didn’t say a thing.

But this is valued knowledge.
Children’s feuds, the struggles in the queues.
History clutters up summer. This season of giving
hasn’t given up. His phone rings,
a loving family reels him in.

© Les Wicks

LES WICKS has toured widely and seen publication across 24 countries in 12 languages. His 13th book of poetry is Getting By    Not Fitting In (Island, 2016). http://leswicks.tripod.com/lw.htm

Les Wicks’ Getting By    Not Fitting In will be launched by Chris Mansell
Saturday 6th February 2.30pm
Friend in Hand Hotel
58 Cowper St, Glebe (upstairs bar).
For details ring 0414 767 089

Books available through:
http://islandpress.tripod.com/ISLAND.htm
http://leswicks.tripod.com/books.htm