by Gary Cummiskey
Today’s lunch
is fried cod and chips.
He hasn’t tasted cod
in over
thirty years.
He recalls as a child
travelling by bus
from England
to Scotland,
and the early morning
stops at Lockebie,
crowds rushing
off the bus
to stand in a long chilly
queue
for fish and chip suppers – fried
battered fish
on a bed of chips – it’s a
ritual when
crossing the border
in either direction,
and later a plane will
explode
over Lockerbie
and local yobs
will leave their fish suppers
behind,
eager to
rob the dead.
Gary Cummiskey is the author of several poetry chapbooks, including Don’t Stop Until Incinerated (Tearoom Books, Stockholm, 2016), I Remain Indoors (Tearoom Books, 2013) and Sky Dreaming (Graffiti Kolkata, India, 2011). In 2009 he published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a collection of writings about the South African Beat poet, co-edited with Eva Kowalska. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, Off-ramp. He lives in Johannesburg.