Poems

SILENT NIGHT PEACEFUL DAWN
(or King’s Road, Brighton)

Squealing birds and squealing tyres
Tyres squashing on the wet tarmac
Screaming teens and screaming sirens
The incessant drone of passing cars
Revving bikes and revving trucks
Delivery trucks, garbage trucks,
Furniture removals’, grocery shops’,
Window cleaning services, Royal Mail’s,
The unquenchable Coca Cola
Quenching the thirst of the world!
Wastetech ‘servicing the environment’
‘High class fruiters to the catering trade’
‘Meat specialists’ to the catering trade
A ‘skip-it’ tipper truck, the street sweeper
No-name trucks and nothing vans
Honking hooters and impatient motorists!
Crashing waves and crashing glass in
Up-turned garbage bins.
Breaking waves and breaking glass
The unending hum of passing cars
Strong gale-force winds
A crashing gusty breeze
A jazz note wailing at midnight
Rock music rattling my windows
Blaring speakers blasting my ear drums
High heels clicking at one am
Voices arguing at two am
Voices screaming at three am
Voices, voices, voices through the night
Buddies’ all-night fish & chips Plaice
Four am voices mingling with my dreams
Snatches of conversation jutting in my thoughts
Rolling cylinders and scaffolding pipes
The irritating building contractor’s mini
Excavator and droning generator
The incessant drone of passing cars
Eerie silences in between
The continuous swoosh of the sea
And cooing doves on my window sill

2006