Nightpiece #2 (2006)

8pm café closure
aluminium chairs dragged like
teeth on concrete
& stacked

Tram asks do I have tuff nuts
though ‘tuff’... isn't

If you want to be tough
don’t hang in the lightreach
of $2 & souvenir shops
(one is called ‘Australia the Gift’ –
if I wasn’t tough oh-so already
this in itself might see me over the line)

These boys are tough as, they think,
chem dispensers flicking raw deals
(budget lighting) –
but are they mountainbike couriers /
ambulance drivers?
have they ever really had to weave
through anger
at speed?
(Um... yeah, probably.)

Anyone can get supply-chained:
just ask Ouroboros,
giving directions from
the recycling bin, &
the brown old clocktower’s face
has been dealt the same hand –

Boys, show me your pokerface!
whose deal has fallen through?

7Eleven is open yet again
(I fold)