Saturday 6 November 2021

not streets away

 not streets away


the layout of corners and doorways

where the light refuses to pay homage

to the humped blankets of the night 

the peeling maroon bottoms of doors

scuffed and flaked columns creamed

in dilapidation across this pocked town

backwashed and walked in trepidation 

of prowling thoughts turning down

under railway arches and subways

urine the vintage aroma of a wrinkling 

but

who dares 

but will not go 

where despair stares 

where the stone walls weep down

the long-drained ways of under here

below where the lights blaze warm in

shop windows richly comforting in

the buffering of money 

as it always has

and yet these dank corners and doorways

alleys and praline darks vanishingly small 

in calling out what is the point of it all

the backwardness of this cornered map

these catacombs of decorum

where the effigy of a shiver walks

who will dare follow i ask

because anyone with any sense 

would fear to tread

but i will not ask you that

not yet






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