Ivory

No more mularkey,

no baloney. No more cuffuffle

or shenanigans;

all that caboodle

is niet dobra. It will end

this minute.

No more fuss

or palaver; no more mush

or blarney. No flowers,

by request; no offence meant,

and none taken. No more blab,

none of that ragtag

and bobtail business,

or ballyhoo or

balderdash

and no jackassery, or flannel,

or galumphing.

Listen:

from this point forward

it’s ninety-nine

and forty-four hundredths

per cent pure.

And no remarks

from the peanut gallery.

SIMON ARMITAGE