charles fox

he looked drunk or dead until he started to move and
the two of us ran towards him,  
feeling heroic .  
his hat fallen off his scarred head-  
he got a skin cancer, see,  
they're burning it out.  
 
when he moved the blood poured from his nose  
his cheekbone swelled purple  
and his head was on my lap

first-aiders brought some antiseptic wipes  
so now everybody was very concerned,  
i suppose  
 
his hearing aid lay in pool of bright red mucusy blood.  
he tried to put it back in  
in the wrong ear.  
 
he bled on my sleeve and my jeans.  
he explained the burns on his skull,  
he had a type of cancer,  
and he was getting them burnt out.  
all his family were at work, he said  
no . there's nobody to call  
 

we call


paramedics  
call him "young man"  
his laugh sputters blood on my sleeve and my jeans.  
sorry, he tries to say.  
his milk he bought from the shop is leaking  
all over his co op bag for life.  
 
and that's that,  
that's how i met charles fox  
 
and i thought before then
being old would be alright