Year 27

A ghost arrived

at the foot of the bed,

wearing a 'Death-Share the Experience' T- shirt,

way too late.

Is your pleasure killing you?

Does your pleasure hurt?

Reduced to a chanting throng,

'Drink the blood of the cow!'

in the pre-school throw-rug sitting circle,

an experience deemed unsuitable

by the re-eduction department heads.

(Too blatant).

By the time

you read this

it will have still

not become funny.

Not

that it was.

There were three scratches

on the right hand side

of his face in the mirror.

By the 25^th year

these scars had become

white stripes

quite clearly obvious

on the side of his jaw

every time he chose to shave.

It took him years

to realise

that they were

actually left

on the left.