It's Stinking Poem by Alistair Graham

I

She said
It's stinking outside

I thought about it
Stinking

I tried to smell the stench
Imagined rotting piles of stuff

It's not the day for the bins
Bins on Monday

Today is Wednesday, midweek
Like midwinter

The rain doesn't stink
I thought

Rain rains
Soaks you through to your trunks

II

Trunks is Sunblest Veda
Thickly sliced, toasted with butter
Melted cheese - Eyelevel grill

Trunks is a bus journey
To primary school - double-decker
Upstairs, front window, massive

Buildings coming at me
Touch the top of street lights, midwinter,
Dark, raining up the Lisburn Road to Balmoral

And knickers
Is posh Christmas cake
Piped edges, white, pink

Nickers is coming down the Lisburn Road
Upstairs - double-decker
School finished

Mid-afternoon summer
Smell the heat, smoke my pipe
Chase the girls: groin