Missing the times when as a matter of course
the passports of travellers were stamped
every time they entered another country.
The stamps in the passport were a visible sign
to you that you had been to places other people
who never knew you then never learnt about.
With no stamp that says you were there
in the present, now the past, and now
no stamp to say you are here, the present
continues to seem like a very big non-country.
When older you piss in the sink
rather than in the lavatory,
because you can stand to do it and it saves water.
When young you saw many a man
who used the sink so in their youth
-but for different reasons, back then
it was a rebellion against the feminine order
of cleanliness which used to cow you into submission.
So whilst you hold the shrinking remnant
of a youthful masculinity in your fingers,
you feel more alive for letting it flow,
and rinsing the sink afterwards.
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