Rozzer And A Bomb Site 1957 Poem by Terry Collett

We were on a bomb site
off Harper Road
Enid and I and two
other kids
when a rozzer came along
and called us off

Enid was wide eyed
and scared her
old man would find out
and whack her one

what are you
doing on here?
the rozzer said
bomb sites are
dangerous places
now what's your name?
he asked one
of the other kids

Donald Mallard
the kid said

and you?
he asked
the other kid

Mickey Harvest
the kid replied

and you?
he asked me
hands in my jeans pockets

Benny Good
I said

and you?
he asked Enid

she's Enid Blyth
I said before Enid
could open
her shivering lips

he wrote them down
in a black book
you all live
around here?
he said

we nodded

well don't get on
here again or I'll
be visiting your parents
get it?
he said
now get off and away

I was looking
for stones
for my catapult
I said

I don't care
if you were looking
for flowers
for your old gran
now get
he said

we began to walk
off the bomb site
the other kids
walked down
Harper Road

Enid and I walked down
Rockingham Street

why did you say
my name was Enid Blyth?
Enid said

never tell a rozzer
your real name
I said

but those other boys did
she said

no they were giving
him false names
Donald Mallard
I said
is a run on Donald Duck
because a Mallard is a duck
and Mickey Mouse
as there's a harvest mouse
see?
I said

she opened her mouth
to say something else
but didn't
and we walked
on through the Square
to see if her old man
was home or not

he wasn't
so we went in her flat
and her mum made us
lemonade and we sat
in her lounge
out of the sun
and in the shade.