Summat and Nuffin

[ray miller]

Heard before seen as approaching train station,
bubbles of sound that he blows for beguiling
the purposive hordes in panting impatience;
his smile isn't worn by the faces that file in.
Sat cross-legged, an upturned hat on the pavement,
he struggles with platform announcements and sirens
which furnish the ears, yet the eyes remain vacant,
that crave our attention while he counsels silence.
Reed in his lips, I can guess what has struck him,
he's thinking most likely I 'll try to resist his
unswervable dogs known as Summat and Nuffin,
essential accoutrements of the business.
Watered and feted at Job Seekers Centre,
on christian name terms with bespectacled staff;
indifferent to mutterings, envy and censure
that are hissed behind times and the telegraph.
Crowd management experts, bred specially for buskers,
shitting in gutters and sniffing the trousers
of drinking men gathered in penitent clusters,
in league with the demons that slowly devour us.
Cornered commuters at morning assembly
seek higher authority, fidget and shrug,
fumble in pockets to empty for entry;
Summat and Nuffin share victory hugs.
Amidst cigarette endings and throwaway cartons
the pied piper pauses and praises in earnest.
It's work, but it's art and they play a good part on
the stage of this piss, spit and sawdust surface.

[R. Broath]

Another winner, Ray.
Rich with sounds (and the smells) of the stationed buskers some of whom, I think, have a more highly developed talent to receive more than they offer. Pooches pander to pedestrian philanthropy and pay their way I guess. These two are certainly well drawn.


Jimmy

[bobvincent]

evocative and realistic, but maybe some lines are too long?

[barrie]

There used to be a busker in Bremen who seemed to show up everywhere - he had a sort of terrier thing that used to bounce about on its hind legs begging. I think he had it trained to growl at all the Peruvian buskers who wore coloured blankets - there were quite a few of those knocking about at the time.

Again, very entertaing stuff - some cracking lines -

Crowd management experts, bred specially for buskers,
shitting in gutters and sniffing the trousers
of drinking men gathered in penitent clusters,
in league with the demons that slowly devour us.

All I can say is that I wasn't over-impressed by the first line, Heard before seen as approaching train station - but the rest made up for it.

nice one

Barrie