Parsley in my ears

.

Waiting for the boy

to watch the match together

the joy of playback

.

shut out all noises or clues

I’ll put parsley in my ears

.

by Scooj

This is a rather cryptic Tanka which I am composing while waiting for my son to get home from his late shift so that we can watch the England v Scotland match together on playback. I have to guard against hearing the neighbours shouting or turning on the radio or even using my phone in case I see or hear anything that might give away the score.

Putting parsley in my ears is an oblique reference to an Asterix cartoon book ‘Asterix the Gladiator’ in which the Roman soldiers put parsley in their ears so that they wouldn’t hear Cacofonix the bard singing, such was the dreadful noise he made.