The Disused Canal;

[billy]

a graveyard for rusty bicycles
and missing shopping trolleys,
once crawled the urban sprawl.
Some lazy snake, its sandstone scaled belly flattened
tall grasses on spectacular sunny days.

I fished with bread for slabs of bream
and carp the size of dirigibles. Sipping cold tea
from a Stanley stainless steel Thermos was easy on sun-blistered lips
My arms ached like a mothers to hold one of those buggers
A big fat mirror carp with scales you could shave in
Seventeen pounds was small compared to some fabled
fishy tales that spoke of forty plus or more, caught with spider web
and dog meat. Hooked upon a number four; spade ended and barbless of course
Aside from metal corpses, all it holds now are fishy figments of better days
and cold tea sipped from a Stanley stainless steel Thermos
that was easy on the lips.