"Added Thrill - No Charge" (Entry 320)

Male models wink and ring the till. 

Names tags show Dan, Sam, Matt or Will

Back you go, increasing the bill. 

Shop owner knows it gives you a thrill. 

"Mundane No Magic" (Entry 329)

Grab the groceries. 

No jiggery-pokery. 

Zip to the shops. 

It's a regular stop. 

Daily - weekly buys. 

All done with a sigh. 

Just lists and tears. 

No magic here. 

Mundane goods. 

Just as it should. 

"The Prize Upon Green Baize Cloth" (Entry 300)

It squats,
On green baize cloth,
In a dusty forgotten corner
Of the antique shop.
No-one ventures to this
Part of store.
No-one ever,
Well, not before.
Weave past bookshelves
Housing many-a nick-knack.
Once treasured possessions
Now pushed to the back.
Limbo and curve around
China and glass piled high,
And gazing at taxidermy bird,
With squinting beaded eye.
Hack through forests of
Cobwebs hung messy,
Causing their creators
To scuttle to recesses.
On beyond chandeliers
And cascades of widow’s jets.
Slap away dusty brass birdcage
And paste jewellery sets.
In a flash, there! See it.
On the green baize cloth,
The closed prized possession,
The Unadorned Box!

"Listless Lists" (Entry 295)

I make a note.
Lines on page.
Ideas for life
Yet to come.
Or just lists
for the listless.
Groceries
and other humdrum.

"The Supermarket Blues" (Entry 285)

Pop to the shops.
A lot.
My life in queues.
It's the supermarket blues.

M&S and Waitrose
for those what pose.
Morrisons and Sainsbury's,
for them in a big hurries.
Asda and Tesco,
is where the rest go.

There's many more,
Is it too much choice?
Big places to buy,
but please hear my voice.

What about the old High Street?
With grocers, butchers, bakers and all.
Bring back quality and community,
Break down the corporate control mall.

We pop to the shops.
Us lot.
Our life in queues.
Got the supermarket blues.

"A Children's Shop Lost in Time" (Entry 260)

There is a creepy children's shop.
Selling all their clothing needs.
With mannequins of the girly type,
dressed in lace, flounces and rigid petticoats.
Stuck in a rut?
Or time drift back to Edwardian times
or Victorian fancy -
each one a life-sized freaky doll
with rictus grins.
You're welcome within.

Dusty dusky pink velvet drapes
hang stiff at the windows and
along the walls like
long-forgotten music hall.
With pre-war signage on
black glossed exterior and awning
- a yawning double door to pull you in.
Turns from shop to gothic funeral parlour
for the small ones.
Step right in and look beyond.

I'd love to meet the owner... but then again... maybe not!

"Dark December" (Entry 154)

Dark thoughts desiccate on a dreary December day.
No fairies dance or sugar plum delight,
as dreams implode due to sold out signs.
Presents not present.
No alternative will do.
Christmas shopping descends to gloom.