Once (August)

There is a suburb called Once. There the ball flew high in daphne streets. Lights quietened homes at night. There is a school called Once, where sums added up after crossings and marginals. There the teacher, Mrs Once, writes all over the blackboard. We copied her words in Once Exercise Books (Feint Ruled). There is a radio branded Once. The songs that weaved out were magical mysteries, the news was inaccessible politicians. Prime Minister Once was variously a shunter or a shover. A birthday party in August unwrapped the present called Once, purchased at the Once Department Store in town.