Dear
Thanks for your letter
Sounds like you're
living the way you wanted
And that makes me smile
No I hadn't heard
Bjorn Borg retired
thank God one of us has a finger
on an sporting pulse
No records left to
collect your complaint
Well Borg Brolin and an
unknown tennis trainer
released something recently
No doubt your contacts
in the Stockholm underworld
can source that gem
Got back the other day
to find the pub
on the corner had been
burnt down
a dark London street story
I wont't burden you with now
Determined as I am
to write you some
life affirming shit
and not drag you an a regular
trawl through the night seas
to find what crawls
Yet I know they're
casting their lots
to see who can get the
old pubs's lease an' turn it
into more luxury flats
Brick by brick the
infiltration has begun
I feel moved to take a
spray can to the boarding
But can't think of
anything whitty
or on point enough
to be up there
The drunkards still own the park
D's still there in your old
flat making beats
and still owns the night
While this street can
still shape shift
and make you quicken your pace
on a late night return
So I suppose we still have time
But make no mistake my friend
I'm sure some barricade
somewhere has started calling
I'm so sorry
we missed each other
when you last came to town
I heard from Ndeye you
sat with her telling stories
for three hours
while she put some extensions
in a client's hair
She told me about Cuba
cigars and sacred drums
of arguments in bars Dante
the color of christ
and the only true poet
The south China sea's
remembered fa yung the
Buddhist master
how can we obtain truth
through words
When she quoted your
immature writer's plagiarize
mature writers steal
I was back in a bar in New York
lower east side
when you shouted that at
maybe it was yourself
maybe I wasn't there
maybe it's slipped down
between the years
My memory isn't exactly
all that now
But my friend
you definitely hava a
convert there
an if you ever need
your hair braiding
and I know that's a long shot
then she's your girl
As my man scratch or
maybe Rakim or maybe Monk
More probably all of them
at some stage said
You gotta check the new style
I'm assuming you are
still running an old testament
blades to hair ratio
and it hasn't fallen
rudely out on you
If that's the scenario
then my sincerest apologies
Saw Mr Brenan in the
Holloway road yesterday
Walked past with a bag of
potatoes on his shoulders
I didn't stop him he
wouldn't have a clue
who I was
He didn't back then
when we'd spent month's
sleeping on his sofa explaining
which one of his son's
friends we were
Well that's the price you
pay for any more than
six children
in the Holloway road area
I think of you often
and hope we see each other
again as soon as possible
Until such time may the winds
be at your back
the dice be kind
and the Gods turn the
occasional blind eye
sincerely yours
beyond the clouds
beyond the son
the rebel without a cause