Leeds 6

There are no children in this street,
No sticks start conkers from the trees,
No nappies conga in the breeze,
No breeze; only a restless heat
Busy with flies round bursting bins,
Where some old pensioner with rotted lungs
Wheezes and shuffles, muttering among
Crushed cartons, half-gnawed pizzas, bottles, tins,
Stale newspapers, insanitary things…

A door bangs, and another perfect blonde
In footless tights and dinky little top
Lugs out a reeking mattress, props it up
Against the portico; and glances round
A final moment at the mess of terms
She’s leaving: dingy pillows bagged
Like corpses in black plastic, duvet dragged
Onto the grass to pullulate and squirm.
Outside the gate, a broken toilet rears
Heraldic, and a slither of CDs
Puddles the pavement underneath the trees;
Dead shoes, crunched clothes, a bike with broken gears.

A horn pips from the shiny little car
(“Prezzie from Pops for passing my exams!”).
She skips to join the giggling girlies crammed
Inside – and they’re away to Cheltenham Spa,
Or Penge or Sevenoaks or Potter’s Bar…

Only the old, the dispossessed, the mad,
Poets, and the incorrigibly poor,
Who live up steps in flats with metal doors,
Creep out now to reclaim what space they had
For a few blazing weeks this time last year.
But now come landlords in their four by fours,
Painters and pointers, gardeners with chainsaws,
And next term’s punters with their mums and dads,
Looking about for trendy Georgian pads.
We pass among them, faceless and ignored.

We've all next autumn to look forward to,
And the unresting thud of drum and bass.
This is a place youth passes through
On its way to somewhere else.

August 2009

brilliant writing, Pam
very impressive

Stella

Lovely Pam.  I want to pick this when it's been viewed a bit more...only nit is the old pensioner...could he be just a pensioner?

Comes over very strong, and vivid, Pam. If Sue hadn't said she'd pick it, I would have done so.

Cheers

milner

Pam, enjoy this very much! My favorite little nugget: ", a broken toilet rears/
Heraldic". Think you could cut last line and end at "passes through." --Tom

Pam, I read this through amazed at the sounds and the images and the whole of the piece and moved it at once to picks.  Now I see I've made a blunder, have taken the honor of sending this up that Sue intended.  Am hopeful she'll forgive me.

Terrific write.

lynn

Stella - thank you so much!

Pam

Hello, Sue

You're right - it's a tautology. I need a one syllable word for the scansion, and will put my mind to it.

Love Pam

Cor, Milner! Thank you!

Pam

We've all next autumn to look forward to
And the unresting thud of drum and bass.
This is a place youth passes through.

I see what you mean. It gives it a very sombre feel and not so tidily sewn up. Also closer to the main rhyme scheme. What does anybody else, think?

Thanks very much, Tom.

Pam

Thank you so much, Lynn. I do feel deeply about the place as it's simply wrecked by the passers through, pretty and lively as they are. Mind you, I was a student once myself, and probably did as much damage.

Pam

Pam, almost missed this!  What a pleasure to read.  Looking forward to more (but no pressure, please, lol).

cheryl

Thank you, thank you, Cherylanne!

P x

Dios mio! What writing! What poetry! I have to say that this is incredible writing. I so much enjoyed reading this Pam. BEautiful writing with hard hitting pause. wow! I know you are proud of this one for sure.  ;D - jmg

You're a gentleman and a scholar, Jose!  Thank you!

Pam