Aston Junction

Cherry

By Philip Sidney

Tue, 28 Apr 2015
  • 6898 reads
18 comments
 

Quiet and cool in the concrete cave

beneath a criss-cross of humming roads

the only movement - a slow ooze

of condensation down clammy walls.

 

A century ago the canal would be

gridlocked all day and all night

stern to aft, choking coke smoke

bitumen coated, tarpaulin covered

carbon inhaled but humans secondary

transporting goods from factory to trader

slow but relentless, the clogged artery

all competing as time is money

work - good for the soul, lives built on

coal, dreaming of rest and amber

Ansell’s in a hand-blown glass.

 

The Aston expressway sits above

gridlocked all day and all night, bonnet to boot

tarmac and diesel, people packed - unable to dream

of a time when this will be a place of tranquillity.

 

Certificate U
Poem
Necropolis
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

lots of c words, but none of them bad! History is past and present here. 

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thank you celticman, history around us always and us becoming it. :)

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

This is very evocative for me. My dad was an Ansell's lifer, paid partly in beer tokens. I used to look down from the expressway and think how I wouldn't want to walk down there among the huge concrete pillars with that smell of HP - terrifying. Thanks for the read.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thank you Jane!  The beautiful HP factory now gone :(. It's lovely down there, eerie, sadly I seem to live too much of my life on the expressway.  Nice that a Brummy can recognise this! :)

Submitted by jeand on

Hi Helen

Very evocative - and beautifully written, as always.

Jean

Jean Day

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thank you Jean.

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

A compact view of the interlocking of the levels of the present and past, with their different pollution and work problems. The last line made me wonder, how many in the dense traffic are dreaming of a place of relative tranquility they will arrive at soon? — we still have some left! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks Rhiannon, it's nice to think of those places when i'm stuck in gridlock - twice a day everyday with all the rest up there on the expressway, dreaming our lives away. :)

Submitted by Bee on

Really beautiful, this. Such atmosphere created in the rich description. The only thing lacking in this writing was sound, but then I turned the volume up in my head and heard it all. It's all there - loved this - rhyme, assonance - everything.

Bee

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Glad you can hear it!  It's funny, I'm in it everyday but block out the sound so I can listen to my head, must have seeped in somehow. Thank you for your lovely comment. :)

Submitted by blighters rock on

Great insight into the dependable progress of a beautifully faulty race.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks you Blighters. :)

Submitted by torscot on

Enjoyed reading this atmospheric travel tale and having experienced gridlock on many occasions

I'm glad I live on the coast free to wander along cliff paths knowing   "...rest and amber Ansell’..." is waiting for me after a long slog.

Regards

 

 

torscot

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Lucky you, torscot! I do love the city though. :)

Submitted by EB on

Agree with above comments. Well written and atmospheric, as has been said.

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks EB. :)

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Love this, Philip. Right up my street.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks for reading this one ParsonThru!  Streets and roads, paths and canals, you are a traveller.  I love those unfamilliar views of the city.  :)