Sweeties

Sweeties I: Wine Gums

A quarter pound
That is to say
one hundred
and thirteen
point
three
nine
eight
zero
nine
three
grammes
of sweets
crammed together
in a paper bag
the highlight
of the youngster's
weekend
this week it is
wine gums
they are like
jelly babies
or jujubes
but, well
winier
and chewier
and they have
the names
of the
beverages
in bas relief:
port
sherry
bourbon
champagne
claret
brandy
gin
cider
hock
rum
cognac
buffed with carnauba wax
coloured with
E104
E122
E129
E142

yum

Sweeties II : Allsorts

Four ounces of cylinders and cuboids
Jostle in a white paper bag
Purchased at Woolworths
For sixty five pee
The owner is not supposed
To eat in the street
But takes a chance
And plucks out
A circular one
With blue bobbles
Which would be
Like cobblestones
For ants
Or spiders
Another ? Go on then
This time it is a brownblackbrown sandwich
Followed by a cylinder: yellow outer black inner
If you squash it a bit it looks like
a goat's eye
Next is the severe whiteblackwhiteblackwhite sandwich
Beloved of St James' Park
Uneaten by Mackems
By the time the young lad
Arrives home
All of the multicoloured ones have gone
Only a few pure black liquorice sticks remain
He gives them to his sister
As usual
She believes that allsorts
Are all black