Um?

FRUIT-cakes, in every term the office-workers are
EQUAL, equal also in the term that is
FERAL, feral in their approach to ordering their
LATTE latterly, not early, like those expecting Summer fruit in Winter.

The New Law cometh down upon us

DRYLY the old man told his story: the
KNOCK on the door, the police asking, ‘Did you
SPANK your child?’ His answer, ‘What a
PUREE you make of the law. Of course I spanked my child – fifty years ago.’

Bayou

LOWLY bayou, yet ablaze with a
BLAZE of ghosts; though lowly, still
GHOSTly. This lowly bayou enflames the
BAYOU’s pale and lowly emblazing ghosts.

Climber

PRONE, hanging mid-air, deep breath, with a flick of the
WRIST I convulse to twist vertical, and continue to
CLIMB the supposedly insurmountable rockface; more
LEERY now of falling, flailing flat on my back again.

Gloves

KNAVE that he is, he and his fellow-villain are hand in
GLOVE – both long-practiced since youth to use their
SKILL to dupe and rob the poor and
NEEDY, the needy who can’t even afford gloves.

The crowd

The dance crowd

USUALly, I can be
MERRY when someone gives me a
KNOCK in a crowd or an accidental
SHOVE, but elbowing me in the ribs really gets up my nose!

Seven hills

DRIVE from Ostia, carefullY,
EAST, cautiously through the manic traffic, A
ROMA, the seven-hilled city. Drive to Palatine, the
FIFTH of them. Fifth, according to some sources.

The purloiner

QUELL, how do I quell my feelings about the thief who’s
TAKEN not just the vinyl off my floor, but the
VINYL out of the kitchen cupboards. It was a sheer
FLUKE that I put on my glasses and noticed all this purloining.

Kayak, and nonsense

FAINT, I might, if I were the fainting type, at your exceptionally
OVERT and unsubtle suggestion that I should think of a
REFIT for this more than somewhat unseaworthy, and possibly a little geriatric,
KAYAK. Bloke I maybe, but I know you do it out of love.

First steps in love

CLOUD meanders over the sunshot field; good
REHAB for a man of my years and modest wisdom;
WHINE away – yes, I do – along with the bee and
THORN bird, impaled as he or I might be, in the heart.