Non Runners

 

What is it about ball-point pens?

You carefully select a container to restrain them,

in this case a Valroble, Aceite de oliva, Ecologico,

an impulse purchase from Antequera

a hillside town in Andalucia

flanked on one side by a limestone crag

in the shape of a native Indian man’s profile

La Peña de los Enamorados

a tragic tale there...

But all that is beside the point-

what I wanted to say about the pens

is that they disappear,

Spanish container or no,

they leap over the proverbial edge

like the star crossed Antequera lovers

and you’re left with these pseudo-pens

these mini- punter pens

from Paddy Power or Boyle Sports

consolation prize from your last trip

to the bookies

so minute they get wedged diagonally

in the bottom of the Spanish oil tin

and you have to prise them out

by whatever means

only to find that the ink has dried up

designed only to run one race

complete one betting slip

and you’ve already done that

and lost the bet

and don’t have a thing to show for it

not even a pen to your name.

Copyright 2022 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved