okay so I was excited about getting an Action Man

but really what was there to do with him apart from

stroke the stubbled fur that passed for hair and try

to twist his rubber fingers into the trigger of a gun
he looked neat holding a gun though the gun didn’t fire anything

my brother had the outfit for the deep sea diver version

made of cotton not very practical mine had boots

which didn’t come in left and right he had no genitals
no six pack he had a scar though under his eye

I like to think his pet cat scratched him (there was no cat)

or an awkward clash of heads while he and his lover had sex

(there was no lover) poor sod I wonder if he dreamed of being
an actor a novelist doing something with his hands

I think if I’d had a sister I would have raided her toys’ stuff

to give him something other than guns and green trousers

a summer dress a stethoscope a shy ménage à trois