The Knights of the Tie™
If you want to see
the urbane battleground
the civilised fisticuffs
the modern-day duel
don’t look to
the wrestling ring
the fencing match
the Iraq, Afghanistan, Falklands, Somme and so on
(at least not first).
Look to the public transport of
the city crusader
the cosmopolitan gent
the schoolchild, tramp, tourist, newbie and so on
(but mostly the suits).
For they know their place in the pecking-order public platform of transportation contraptions
and
it is
their confidence
their job
their life (maybe)
so
they will defend it with all
their strength
their minds
their hearts
but
what weapons has our Knight of the Tie™? Only
their outrage
their tensing up
their shifty sort of subtle squeezing into place by ‘scarcely’ seeing the intruder and softly stepping onto them until the sacrosanct space is saved
and (worse than all the above put together with Marmite)
the angry stare!
and (what makes up for failure if the above factors fail to shift the offender)
the commiseration of their fellow Knights of the Tie™!
So next time you pass
a bus
a train
a tram, tube, DLR, coach and so on
take a look at the arena, watch
the Knights take their places
the interloper lope inter
the fierce oppugnance for the place
and write down
if he won
if he lost
if he kept he fellows’ respect
(the last is the most important).
And if you
study hard
eat your greens
buy into the conventions of an often unfair and limiting capitalist society
maybe
one day
you can be one too.