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The eternal pre-match by Nick Power


I arrive early for the derby

the pub a pendulum of opinion

my father’s friends already in their seats

drinking and doing the bets,

as though the furlough of Saturday

had run a circuit

through the weeknights of their

proud toil,

back to the eternal pre-match.


They look up as I enter,

me, announcing a desire to do things

clean this time, the proper way

to which they laugh, and laugh

again

so I recoil to

the green baize room

I lie there on the snooker table

where all my dreams rest peacefully

on a bed of faded halos


___________

Nick Power is a writer from Wirral, Merseyside, and authored a number of books, including 'Into The Void (On Tour With The Coral 2016-17)' and 'Bright Angel Proof', both for erbacce-press.

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