THEY ALL
HATE MY HERO
by
Bradford Middleton
“Oh, I hate him,”
they’ll snarl whenever he comes near and I know
My hero has returned. The
local misanthrope who hates almost
Everyone and everything
and who comes in my shop whenever I’m
Working and I can just
stand on the check-out dreaming, in a few
Decades time, about how
I’d take being just like him. The kids I work
With all hate his guts,
despise him, always questioning his use of so
many
Bags but as someone who’s
had a lifetime to prepare he’s always got
A response and it always
brings a smile to my face.
“People forget about
the plastics industry,” he’ll retort to the eye-
Rolling youth who’ll
hurry him out the store whilst when he comes
To me it’ll always
end in fun & games. “You’ve taken all my money!”
He’ll claim, whilst
peering over a wallet stuffed full of 20s, after his
Regulation 2 bottles of
wine which I’m guessing he’ll do every day
After a long lunch-hour
in the pub.
“You kids don’t
get it!” I’ll scream at them all as soon as he leaves
and
As they roll their eyes
at me, “Lunch in the pub every afternoon and 2
Sweet bottles of wine every
night, now that’s what I call living!” I’ll
Respond before they tell
me I’m already halfway to living the dream
Of being just like him
and I don’t know if they mean in age or in
Levels of hatred and, in
all honesty, I couldn’t give a damn!
Bradford
Middleton lives in Brighton on the UK’s southeast coast. He was born in
London during the long hot summer of 1971 and growing up on a council estate
and attending the local school, he learnt two things; if he didn’t kick back
he’d never get anywhere in this life, merely becoming another cog in the wheel,
and has been kicking against those pricks his entire life. He began writing when
he arrived in Brighton in the
early years of the new century and began reading his poems to often stunned and
confused onlookers until one day Mad Swirl asked to publish one of his
poems. He’s had four chapbooks published since then and has hundreds of poems
dotted all over the internet. His work has featured in the Chiron
Review, Evening Street Review, New Reader Magazine, Paper
& Ink Lit Zine, Horror Sleaze Trash, and Razur Cuts,
amongst other places including, of course, Yellow Mama. Follow him
on Twitter @BradfordMiddle5.
Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various
venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s
Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she
can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received.
