stale office air
from a place where nobody knows the cleaner
coats your lungs as you don’t say –
excuse me

let me befriend the doorway bracket
while you breeze by
in a multi-functional
ultralight down hooded jacket –
if only manners were functions

as I manoeuvre the pram
the order of the queue
is a suggestion to you
and as your coffee arrives your open hand
waves to my daughter –
I might as well be in a different land