Elaine Speakman
On Blackpool Prom
Apprehensive gay couples and geriatrics
Litter the derelict benches
On the sea front,
Watching beer-bellied husbands
Lagging behind humped wives
Pushing the chairs
Of the dribbling cocoons
They used to call mum.
The bleached concrete
Laced with fractured brick
Shimmers in the midday heat
And the constant roar of traffic
Is occasionally punctuated
By the metallic intonation
Of an almost employed bingo caller.
Only the glimmer of the gas rigs
Miles away across the muddied sands
Gives any indication
Of the ocean
And its gift of healing breezes
That made this town.
Litter the derelict benches
On the sea front,
Watching beer-bellied husbands
Lagging behind humped wives
Pushing the chairs
Of the dribbling cocoons
They used to call mum.
The bleached concrete
Laced with fractured brick
Shimmers in the midday heat
And the constant roar of traffic
Is occasionally punctuated
By the metallic intonation
Of an almost employed bingo caller.
Only the glimmer of the gas rigs
Miles away across the muddied sands
Gives any indication
Of the ocean
And its gift of healing breezes
That made this town.
Page(s) 192
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