Streetside

This evening we had planned a little celebration of Poetry of Place at uBuntu Nest in Howick. It is not happening, obviously. This is one of the poems I would have read tonight, so am sharing it here instead. I hope you will book for the evening when it does happen.

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The backstory to this poem is Harvard Street in Howick. It is a vibrant, colourful and busy street, that stretches from the Howick Falls precinct into the suburbs. I walk along there occasionally when accompanying friends to the taxi rank.

At the moment, the usual vibe is a subdued. It is so quiet that last week the fire department were hosing down the taxi rank and pavements with great jets of water!

Streetside

Enveloped in a kerbside hug

I wonder

Can everyone feel the love?

The woman behind the bundles of greens?

The taxi full of tiredness?

The hawker of continental cast offs?

Goodbye

I don’t want to go

I never do when I am with you

The whoonga boys eat cheap cake

A chicken scrabbles

The shoemaker concentrates on his stitches

A gap-toothed kid grins

The taxi man turns up his tunes

The girl in blue catches my eye

She noticed

For a moment we share the sidewalk

I hope someone loves you too

I tell her with my smile

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