His flashback ~ Martin Reed

there was this quiet kid way back when
in the woods on the school painting trip to Anglesey
who didn’t know quite how to take me
when I went on like that

like I do
giving it all the gob I can muster

eh
look at me
why aren’t you friggin looking at me
pay attention
get me
I’m a friggin star

not word for word like
but thinking back that’s how I came across
as we flecked and spattered
our teenage masterpieces

I fed him a pile of shite
about how I’d done so much tab
that flashbacks could fuck with me
at any moment

like that time
I told him
like that time on the cliff-top
when it came on with such a rush
and I woke with my head
hanging over the edge

he was no good at hiding his fear
he wasn’t much fun
so I left early
lunging at him as I went
then watched and laughed
as he dodged my swing

he fell backwards
pissing himself on the way over

and as he toppled
he must have realised
how alone he was
away from home for the first time
and how there was frig all
his mam and dad could do
to protect him

a defining moment by my reckoning
lovingly gifted by me
so it’s funny
I only just remembered him