Bus to Porthcawl

BUS TO PORTHCAWL

Am I going to go all the way

or will I get off at first base

Bridgend?

birthplace of fifty years ago

where Mam had burnt toast for brecwast

born at ome I was

upstairs, front room

Dad was at a meeting in work

too squeamish or too cowardly to greet his youngest 

with a handshake.

a boy

but they were expecting a girl, 

to be named Harriet who didn't show

Instead a 'bardd talcen slip'

prosaically popped on to the potty and he has been anal ever since.

So what will it be, bracing sea air to the strains of Paul Robeson's transatlantic telephone call at the Grand Pavilion,

fish and chips and charity shop heaven,

or will I get off in Pen-y-Bont ar Ogwr?

Certainly not Waitrose,

 I mean Cowbridge, which is up its own arse and always has been,

but I'm still in Ely as I write, dressed in a vest and knotted handkerchief

Morris Minor's fortnight with the bank oliday on the orizon.

Got a lifetime to make a decision,

the speed this bus is going.