The polarity-Inverter.

[ton321]

It was a friend of a friend of a friend.
It was a Tesco carrier-bag full of low denomination notes.
It was a reassuringly heavy black box, packed in corrugated cardboard.

It dreamed one micro .02 screwdriver.
It dreamed the nitch.
It dreamed cocking the snook.

It meant a ten year spell in her majesty’s service, if caught.
It meant that plus was minus and minus, plus.
It meant that that we abstracting electricity.

One friend sold the house to travel the world, and said he wished he visited Scotland first then he wouldn’t have bothered with the rest of it,
One friend went to the other side, after jumping into a canal in the early hours, his body not being found for two weeks, after which only his dental records confirmed his identity,
Which leaves me, I’m afraid, to tell the tale.

All black-boxes have a story to tell.

[ray miller]

Enjoyed the tale. A mate of mine did this too, put the electric in reverse. Problem arose when the man came to read the meter, which of course was in the minus. It was mid-summer and he had to ask the guy to come back later, in the meantime turning on every electrical item up as far as it would go, to achieve some kind of positive reading. It got very hot.

It meant that that we abstracting electricity. - summat wrong there.
What is "the nitch"?

[jisbell00]

Hi Ton,

This is an engaging and intelligent poem. It's lots of fun.

Not sure you need the last line.

Cheers,
John

[ton321]

Thanks, Ray, John for the replies. We only used it very infrequently. Did it for the subversive-flavoured adrenaline rush as much as 'owt else, but thinking about it now just induces cringe and disbelief.
You might be right John about the last line.

T

[David]

Yes, enjoyed it. It sounds very Dr Who (maybe an offshoot of his sonic screwdriver). The form - the terse repeating lines, with that much more voluble S4 - works very well.

I think John is right about that last line.

Cheers

David

[ton321]

Thanks David