September 29th, 2025Local Lines
Local Lines
Sixpence
On Bloomsday
in the garden
digging up rogue bulbs
a faint glint
assumes circularity
Beneath fingernail-scraped dirt
a scroll appears
– 1942 –
Split by a shield
a kanga gazes across
a seven-sided star
to an emu
On the flip
the left-facing profile
of bareheaded George VI
looking like the old
King Gee underpants image
Its loss
mid-war
would have been felt
This once gleaming
ripple-edged thrill piece –
to think
it will clink
on counters no more
Forget the tiddler trey
dour big brother Bob
and hefty father Florin
– songs were sung
of the sixpence
Pinned between thumb
and index finger
it feels as light
as a smile
– Bill Wootton
Bill is old enough to remember pre-plastic payments, when coins of the realm passed for currency.
