Marcus Slingsby
Before Him

He took in shoes to repair as a second job
long before the words ‘fast’ and ‘fashion’
existed.

He blew up bridges in North Africa
before drones could do it alone.

He delivered bicycles on Christmas Eve
before the internet took Santa away.

I, I travelled the world
before the pen lost out to the phone.

My eldest, sixteen
before him, not our dreams,
but his own.