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.

Woke: awake!

BROWN-minded from despair, and all those
WOKE-Nigglers who say how much they care; O-
VARY the tune a little, Wokes, let me play happily just for once in a
FIELD where privilege and offence aren’t niggling at the rest of us folks!