Easy Now by Tom Shiner
Easy now walking down the street
In my Brown shoes and hat
Easy now as I walk past the bin
With a flick of my toes
Easy now as am caught in a photograph
With a tree of lime green
And the more I turn into a clown
The more fixed and static I become
Easy now as my feet grow
Easy now as I try to climb out of the photograph
With both hands on the old white border
I smile a clown’s smile
Easy now as I enter the dark and dreadful world
Of French mime
With a scornful dance and a sideways smirk
I disappear off stage left
Easy now as I drink my Scotch
In the dressing room.
Blow into the bottle with a toot
For my Mother
Easy now as I reach into my pockets
To produce some paper flowers
Which makes me want to dive
Into the watery paper
Into a murky glossy magazine
To join the city people with their city ways
Eat right and walk across gardening tips
To the lamppost surrounded with bright white
Then getting smaller,
To shrink to the full stop.
The dot on the page of health tips
For a lavender moment