Midcenturyology Poems

Ditch One A brown paper bag containing orange peel Pithy, probably the sort Where your thumbnail has to go so deep It feels like it has become detached Tump One An earth hernia of grey stone Concealed in a patch of rough cover Those caught unaware this year: twenty one Sprained ankles, chipped tooth, grazed elbow Ditch Two A rabbit hole surrounded by droppings He saw it as he ran and took evasive action But somehow this ended in him flipping Injuring all limbs and pride Tump Two The scorched circle of fire Broken beer bottles around the edge Reflecting the midsummer sun with ire Flashes that distract drivers on the A road Did you hear about the girls that put messages in Sylko bobbins?

He writes the history of the town Pins the castle, cobbles and canal down But does he think that the peak has been reached? From publication date on there will be no change to teach? A far gone place “is now part of Rackhams” he says For the next generation this is just a new maze That leads to the phrase of ‘department store’ And here we are on the cusp of those being no more Those things in our lifetime that change and progress  Can often be those on which we place the least stress. Inspired by a line in this book What is Midcenturyology? It's the mid 20th century way of looking at geography, archaeology and local history. It's AA touring books, Red Guides or Shell archaeology gazetteers. It's Dalesman magazines or exhibitions at the Festival of Britain. You might glance it on an old railway poster or on a postcard. It is art and poetry that celebrates places and the people that made them in the pre computer age that I come from.  Visit me on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co...

  Inspired by the British Transport short film I measured out a day for myself Scraped the spoil heap of my existence The pile upon pile of everything  Shoved into the corner with the dust Selected at the end of my taut nerves: 1lb of short term memory loss ½lb of tired defiance A good big pinch of self indulgence  My method was a train into town A free mooch around a gallery Tea and a bun that I haven't made I am rising, rising, finally My new poetry pamphlet is called Bard Street and is available as an Amazon download. The title is from the name of a street on Park Hill, Sheffield, where my ancestors lived.