STRANGE DUCKLING

he
had
a
vague housekeeper role
in
the 
itu

shuffling about in there
like he was hobbled

or had a shard up his arse

maybe of glass
and he was scared
to break it

~

he lurked
touchy-feely
on the periphery

weak clinging hands
flopping like flannels

his jokes were odd
delivered flat 
and misunderstood

he was unproductive
had an air of decay

he was labelled
all kinds of bad 
and unlikely things

and
easily
hounded out

the poor fucking
strange duckling

theres no give 
in the graded land 
of uniform geese

~

i saw him today
in the car park
underneath asda

he was moving maybe
12 feet a minute
in
a
hi-vis vest
weakly and oddly and awkwardly
waving
a
broom
up at the cobwebs
on the concrete ceiling

he pushed a plastic cart
looked at me
looked away
looked at me
looked away

empty
aimless
slow
broken
lonely
and
colin 

from echo-news.co.uk