In the Snug Bar with Kate, Sid and the Holy Fool

I watched, enchanted as he scraped 

patterns off his plate. Scarfing down 

as if alone; bearing spoon as shovel. 

We had made a date with a Kate and Sid

the beefy hearth of that pie piping like a flue

until he fell upon it – until what was left

were the canteen medals above his breast. 

In desperation or act of penance

we nursed pints of Super, sat in gold gloaming

of snug bar spots and in its wake 

a burn of unwanted opinions flowed 

followed by two-tone education.

I wanted to be his Holy Fool, but

instead kept mum as he talked 

of real and imagined sleights. The fight 

continuing outside beneath the viaduct –

all the times he had been welshed upon

bilked, shucked – names, times, dates. Continuing

until I returned him to his borrowed room

a lockless sty between the sea and sky. 

The next time I saw him was in a grave 

beside famed Jocky (up in Raith).

Note: Kate & Sid – rhyming slang for Steak & Kidney.
Note: Famed Darts player, Jocky Wilson is buried in Raith.