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Clipboard Images
Here in the cinema of his past he sits, image, image,
cutting, grafting nostalgia on to thin sheets of cardboard
a rare collection, postage stamps he handles with tweezers
animal shaped birthday cakes, four, five, six
shiny chocolate buttons
from a climbed tree a grinning little monster
taunts branch to snap
here a collage of campers pull faces outside a tent
suitcases waiting behind blanket rolls for inspection
pages flip by, some suspiciously empty, others containing
only a song yearning from somewhere, nameless
but with the face of an angel, just a wisp of teenage scent
hanging on the page, dancing close to the gramophone
and a bitter-sweet Campari kiss sipped illicitly
on a sofa, parked behind a tree and a make believe engagement ring
given impetuously, given and returned, given and returned
and then lost like flowers from forgotten decades
behind curtains
© Johnmichael Simon
2005
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