City Whispers

City Whispers

At this moment hundreds of travellers' feet hardly touch the ground

I know these faces, have dwelled in those places

I knew I had to visit the city

I had to taste and feel home

Even though open spaces attract me more – now

It's as if every so often

There's a need, a desire, call it a fix

To absorb the density, a familiar dynamic

And as I leave those wider landscapes

Quietly I observe sodden fields

As I sit in comfort on orange coloured train seats

The ticket collector is nowhere to be seen

I step into the familiar as I embark

The crowds haven't fully formed

So it's with ease that I don't have to wait

For a 73 bus and in 5 minutes I'm at the Angel

At this moment I recognise a collection of girls

From my old school; their uniform fails

To disguise their uniqueness and I'm

transported back to the sixties – to my love of Chapel Street's market stalls

I hardly bother with the market now,

Don't even take a look; there's no need

I'm drawn into NEXT and immediately hooked

I admire the fashion as it explodes colour and I'm warmed

I knew I had to be in the city today

To feel alive, to touch the energy once more and be seen

To linger in those places, see many diverse faces

And blend in again, to steal, to capture and then begin.

The spacious restaurant seating is selected

by the consumer in this half-full lunch time

And it is almost empty by the time I depart

Only to step opposite and discover a larger gathering

In the bar with its low almost dark shadow lighting

A variety of high and low seats

Here I feel right at home as there's room

For every kind of social experience

Women on their own watch plasma TV screens

Couples chit-chat, friends hang out,

Others are Wi-fi slaves to their laptops

A few are intensely holding on to and searching their mobile phones

There's a need to stay connected

By any means necessary

To this digital age, which

brings with it a new anxiety and individual responsibility

Glasses merge and chink, a sip of a drink

and chatter rises and dissipates

At this moment, there is a kind of new age dawning

And another day disappears with no warning.

(24th poem for NaPoWriMo)