Lawns

‘You're putting on weight
again, Peter'

Monica eyes my new paunch

‘I'm off the wagon’
I sigh
‘four blocks of Cadburys
a day'

we both know
chocolate
is my valium

more soothing even
than Rothmans

Monica lights up
with her familiar stained
fingertips

she sticks
liberally
rigidly
to her one vice

‘So’
my ex-wife says
with a rare joke
‘it's a four-blocks-a-day
kinda bin'

‘Yep’
I reply
‘the only things in order
are the lawns.'