Tuesday 29 April 2003

WALKABOUTSVERSE 112 OF 230

Poem 112 of 230:  FROM AN ECCLES FLAT - SPRING 2000

The bedroom window’s southerly views
    Contained allottees paying their dues -
All kinds of veg. brought to fruition,
    And youngsters receiving tuition;
Starlings and sparrows I’d often see -
    On a roof or a nearby tree;
And, in a distant poplar, perched high,
    The large twiggy nest of a magpie;
In spring, daisies would yellow the floor -
    Matched by Forsythias, grown next door;
Behind terraces, a moony crest -
    The Dome of the new Trafford complex;
And the moon itself, in the right spot,
    Would light the night’s clouds up quite a lot.

The kitchen window’s northerly views
    Included an agent selling news;
A butcher struggling with position -
    Much sunlight aimed at his nutrition;
And a popular English chippie -
    Mashed-peas and red-sauce on top, for me;
White gulls dotting a sombre grey sky,
    Plus light- and large-aircraft flying by;
Walkers and traffic would make a roar -
    At peak-travel hours all the more;
Handsomely-set skies, toward the west,
    As the day’s sun took its nightly rest;
And a bucket-pond and ivy plot,
    That, on a shoestring, I loved a lot.

(C) David Franks 2003

My ex Eccles flat - top-left floor of the semi-
detached houses on the corner; 2/6/2021

Other tall poplars, Eccles; 2/6/21

Another poplar & nest; 27/4/18

Similar view of the Trafford Centre's Dome -
from nearby Langland Waterside; 2/6/2021

Trafford Centre - façade & interior; 2/6/21

Chips and mushy-peas, with tomato-sauce,
from my new local, Levenshulme, chippie