Every morning

Every morning

One summer

That ran over into autumn

I suffered hammer blows

Drinking a glass of water

Sitting on the edge of the bed

Spooning headache pills

Into my mouth with cereal

The walls shaking

From the building work

Next door

Wondering when it would end

The site was hidden

A big wooden fence

Covered in graffiti

Local artists with little talent

For originality

Pretending to be Banksy

The workmen sang

Pop songs from the last century

Drive time favourites

Before breakfast

The ground shook

From the piledriver

Vying with a jackhammer

For supremacy

There were cracks in my armour

Walking to the canal

Cleared my head

There was a better class

Of graffiti

On the walls of the bridge

Over the Grand Union

Where the noise

Of costermongers

Mingled with the music

From a cafe

Where an all-day breakfast

Was worth the wait.

It reminded me of Smithfield Market

The 24-hour boozers

A different world

Peopled by extras from a Tolkien novel

Harry Potter

Was such a wuss

Compared to Gandalf

With Robbie Coltraine

In a 24-hour Bagel shop

In Hackney

He certainly was big enough

To be Hagrid

For real

Going home to the power saw

And nail gun

Brought me back to earth

With a bump

And another handful

Of Ibuprofen.