iii.
 
 
Or else god just loves a good thief
 
Or a buttery smile won’t fill the pantry
 
Or because to breed them up is to breed us down
 
Or when there’s nothing stranger than the rum of folk
 
Or when they die at noon they are born at midnight
 
Or what if the slum is only half-frenzy
 
Or a fig-less Eve writhing your eden
 
Or the schoolknife as the new son-of-a-gun
 
Or the library shelved with human ashes
 
Or the crazies in blue nightgowns at the ward gate
 
Or until this fable called history is agreed upon
 
Or to cut down the family forest is to preserve the tree
 
Or could it just be the bluster of jingoism
 
Or might Cicely and I enquire if you are fluent in African
 
Or when there’s no change from the chameleons we voted in
 
Or in clean rags for a pail of water
 
Or as he cheated the wife’s eye for the new cutie
 
Or as the prince was cracking his eggs whilst listening to Handel
 
Or because it’s different when the mutilated are Muslims
 
Or else what kind of sinner are you