This is a rewrite. You can read the last version here.
Next to the surgery
which
used to be someone’s home,
the
bank [built in ‘31] missed out
on
its century of service by fourteen years,
another
high street casualty.
Note
the sale boards have been removed
and
the new signs proclaim wealth management.
But
who’s? I wonder this Sunday
as
I walk past the locked off parking spaces
where
on public days like this one
the
community used to park.
Their
bin overflows and the gulls
have
had their own wing-ding,
bursting
the black plastic sacks.
Now
the remains of their office party
clutters
the pavement.
Optimistic,
a young gull sidles up
to
glean whatever is left.
I
want to tell it not to bother,
that
the wealthy don’t leave rich pickings,
but
the bird is too young to know
that
no meal is ever free.
The latest version came about because I stumbled over some of the words when I was practising reading the poem aloud. If you have difficulty consistently over reading a sequence of words then it needs to be changed. I wanted to read the poem at Stanza Extravaganza here in Torquay and it is always a good idea to have a read through..
The poem also lost its last line as I thought it was too telling rather than showing.
This poem was written at Marjons and is once again about the magpies that run the place.
magpie at the window
nano
second hover
as
strobing feathers
defy
physics
the
captains keep tabs on
each
lecture space and office
oblivious
we think we own the place
The world is more mysterious than we can ever know and birds have been around far longer than us monkeys.
Here is a new song from Fay Wildhagen and Ana Brun.
No comments:
Post a Comment