MIDDLE TO LEFT BROW

this morning I conducted an experiment:

waking early I paused in thought on fig. 52
of the newly received publication Estate
at which the anthropophotographic documentarymakers  
had inserted  
a double spread image of my local shop
the caption merely stated:
 
Tesco Express one of increasingly many within walking
distance of Haggerston Estate, 2010, photo by Fugitive Images  
 
this was clearly emblematic of something, I thought,

some sort of embodied esoterica of leftist liberalism?
A continental agenda of fair-trade-free-thought  
etched in the red, white and blue?
 
I considered my failings, after all;
I had once treasured that weekly trawl
my mother and I  
on the pendulum trip;  
along the A38  
 
So, drawing on my architectural black coat and hat
I cross the threshold of affordability  
Hertford Road
as capitalist piles are driving through  
the thudding soul of virgin Haggerston
 
blue bull nose bricks  
rain in heaps
and icicles string gleaming  
congealed tendrils grip  
the uprooted industrial water main
 
in silence I cross the grey stretch
of Kingsland Road
accompanied by my unknown neighbour

a lady the age of my mother
 
her hair greyed   
her simple bag and coat blue
her life entirely her own
 
our paths cross
as we enter the gentrified air  
of our local Tesco
Express Store  
5 4 0 4
 
the miniature labyrinth
of stacked commodities  
embraces, comforts  
it promises: economy
familiarity
affordability
a purpose
in a bitter world of change
 
a flicker of recognition
as I queue with my lady
the personless check out  
with coin tray, not working,

in need of human assistance

I stumbled to Suji
I bleated Good Morning
Her fingers fumble in branded polythene
 
No, its okay I don't need a bag,
I live just over the road
 
Our eyes never met
she took my money ;
£4.93
I left

next door Gold Hill News and Wines
is where I try to buy my political affiliation

a copy of the Independent  
I have read since adolescence
one litre of Tropicana; US branded juice
Walter's own handmade honey nougat –

impulsively purchased

£5.88
 
the proprietor includes  
his free smile and thankyou
the inevitable, unrefusable, blue bag;

no tax receipt