THE SMILE POEMS #29 - SILENT FOOTSTEP

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping (40 years in retailing), the golden age of Hollywood (including westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 

joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan

I have a portfolio of features, reviews, poetry and short fiction published in all sorts of places - Belfast Telegraph, Tribune, Ireland's Own, Dalhousie Review, Fairlight Books, Reader's Digest, Reality, Lapwing Poetry, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Spillwords, Dear Reader, Amethyst Review, Black Bough, to name a selection.  Oh, and the odd BBC radio contribution. I wrote books on retailing, on dealing with job losses and a biography of film star Stephen Boyd.

This is a series of (hopefully) funny poems from hundreds I've written over the years (inspired by the likes of Spike Milligan and Roger McGough) to provoke a smile in these odd times.

My own original Text ©2020 Joe Cushnan (But you can RT!)

SILENT FOOTSTEP

I walk the echoing pavements,

taking in the evening air,

my tap-tap, steel-tipped boots

breaking the silence with sharp rhythms.

Left foot, right foot,

left foot, right foot,

metal toes connecting with stone,

a satisfying sound, city noise, urban tone.

But as I turn a corner, danger lurks,

unknown to me a Fido fall-out awaits

and I step in some canine poo,

one of nature’s fulsome, filthy fates.

And the tap-rhythms are all but silenced

by the town-hounds in cahoots,

I am aware of a silent footstep 

from a number two on one of my boots.