In some ways
there is still a sense of history
there, in the High Street,
where the sentinel parking meters
and the cars they guard,
are intermittently mirrored
in the shiny new shop-windows,
as wave on wave of shoppers pass by -
desiring, deliberating, dismissing
the tantalising display
of windowed fascination.
Though the side-walks are new paved
some remember former days
of concrete slabs,
big enough to hopscotch
without treading on joints.
Too long ago now
for any to remember the Yorkshire flagstones -
sailing ship ballast, laid down, down-under,
to keep long gowns from winter's mud
and summer's dust.
On they thrust,
the elbowing, pram-pushing, jostling crowd,
(impossible now to avoid the modular joints
between modular pavings),
assailed by the exhalations of those cars
which have broken away from their sentinels;
unaware, maybe uncaring,
of the moulded-stucco façades above them,
architectural relics
of gold-rush days.
Façades, pastel-painted,
each hiding the wrinkles of old-age
like a freshly made-up face,
smiling pristinely back
at any who care to look up.
Look up, go on , look up!
Higher, there above the verandahs,
and see them smiling back,
proclaiming their readiness
to remind us of their history.
A contest entry
- ANYTHNG GOES! by jamesmike99.
550 points, ended September 1, 2007, 8 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Say something by HellRaiser21.
600 points, ended May 4, 2008, 10 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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brilliant
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Darrel
Thankyou for commenting.
Best wishes from the Indian Ocean coast
Shenton
I have emailed you.
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Very good, I'm from yorkshire
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HellRaiser21
I lived in Nether Green, Sheffield from 1946 to 1957 when I migrated to Western Australia. Graduated BA (Hons Arch) from University there in1946.
Shenton
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