POETS CORNER 1

MALICE A FORECOURT

05-03-2007

Fancy your petrol without lead? Without silicon would be nice, too, muses The Stirrer's poet-in -residence Brendan Hawthorne.

An Alleged Case of Malice a Forecourt (A Power Play in One Act)

There's an impostor in the tank

and a high octane row

brewing in the lane change

Fuelled by the media

Pumped up by hysteria

Acted out in pit stop

lay-by languishings

enforced pull-ins and

power down shut offs

shadowing the tyre tracks

of bunny-hop performances

and engine mis-management

A mystery residue cokes

up the silicon sensors

gearing up conspiracy theories

choking up the chemistry

as the anti-foam rabid dog

tries to keep the system clean

But now a Machiavellian spirit

lurks in the sump dregs

The dreaded unleaded

forced by a heavy hand

The battle of the

red and the blue

creates an all new

congestion charge

jacking up the price per litre

to cover any

out-of-pocket expenses

The stage is set

The players enter

The lights dim

and the engines fade

on petrol bought in faith

Re-fuelling rumours

as they race around

stage-whisper releases

suggesting that

it could all just be a case

of malice a forecourt

Copyright Brendan Hawthorne 2007