What a waste

I walked a dog in Barking, stroked a kitten in Catford,

crept through the dark Olympic park in Stratford.

I met Mary in Maryland for a march in mid-March.

Leighton from Leyton joined at Marble Arch.

Feeling old on a cold day I listened to Coldplay,

while dreaming of summer, Donna Summer, Haddaway.

In-yer-face Ace of Base, the pounding of relentless feet

dancing to that Cookie song and Mr Vain by Culture Beat.

I googled google on Google as boredom struck.

No luck on Wikipedia so on to social media, stalking

friends, sorting features, emails from female teachers

advising me to mute; let writing do the talking.

On a commute and on my computer I noticed my tutor.

He greeted me warmly but then looked perplexed.

A glance at the screen, he was somewhat mean,

demanding understanding of content and context.

What is this? An absurd waste of the written word.

Just bin it, this half-a-minute will never return.

You won't earn by insulting structure and stanza

so please learn from this tight-fit bullshit extravaganza.

You need either a good intro or outro, preferably both.

This has neither.