Monday 16 September 2019

Uni-form

They say we're the same
Yet my shirt bears the unique imprint of my DNA
as pre-sewn double helix insignia
While your tie constricts a neck
that takes in different air from mine.
Jumpers are made of wool from myriad sheep
and polyester-mix Teflon coated blazers
- crude as the oil they came from -
can't resist the stains of a million ancient organisms
born to wrap resisting teenage bodies.

Walking home, you said
The sun was butter
spread across pavements and melting in puddles.
It won't look the same tomorrow.
And school's manicured hedges
still have branches that escape
like unruly eyebrows.
'Be more hedge!' we laughed
and scuffed our shoes
too young to believe
we are not the world
and the world is not us.