We didn’t know about malignant melanoma then
It was just a knowing nod at an Uncles funeral
The C word
I was worried. Ozone holes. Ultra violet
short rays crackling his skin scared by lathe swarf
Brittle dry from cocktails of milky coolants
All the Red Barrel bellies swilled with the seaweed
Splayed in carefree self contemplation
Unchained from profit and production
We nagged him to the ice cream van
His act of self sacrifice second only to war rationing
The nuclear strawberry syrup a personal triumph
The stray had waited all day
One of the cones gasped upside down in the sand
I’m not bloody doing that again
And we knew Dad wouldn’t
