Agoloso Presents - Atondido Stories Agoloso Presents - Mama Mada | Page 285

Mama Mada
The Home Service by Brian Jo h nsto ne
The washing swung its arms
from pulleys in the kitchen;
messages were shelved
in pantries, paid for on the tick;
and everything was one
and thruppence, two a penny,
twenty bob the pound.
A different land, the past,
and we, its wandered refugees,
can not explain for love
or money how it was for us.
The changes came like buses
are supposed to, all at once.
We hopped on, swung a bit
from straps, went all the way
until they caught us, ticketless,
our right to stay on board
the present hissing at us
like some foreign station
as you turn the wireless dial
to find you can’t receive
the signal like you used to when
the valves lit up, cat’s whiskers
shimmied to a different tune.
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