GHOST TRAINS ON THE MIDDLEWOOD WAY                                                   

 

 

the boundaries of          yakkity yak       

yakkity yak        yakkity yak        cities

 

ripped outlines      in the pub railway geeks

yakkity yak        a moment of insanity      yakkity

yak       umbelliferare umbrella lost platforms

 

yakkity      find yourself yakkity      outside

the centre         ghost stations    vetch    the local shop

sells the last century      a woman           grit in her eye

 

rose bay     yakkity        willow herb        what’sername

 

Celia enters the buffet    steam dissipates      class

difference     men in dark suits   hats    wave from

vanished carriages        find yourself in a foreign land

 

reveals a tall figure

 

MY DADDY       yakkity    trainspotting dreams transit

to senior moment     in the body politic   Beeching’s

muttered curse     real ale cricket talk     yakkity

 

priest and bishop shovel coal    yakkity      to beat

the working accent        then everything                 yakkity

the colour of spring’s first leaves                        bookshop

 

for the perusal of           yakkity yak        yakkity yak

 

dust in the eye     holds his hat against the wind of

celluloid departure        succession of senior moments

kindly station master      what was his      yakikity

 

Trevor       was it       Trevor       patronised villagers

yakkity      from the embankment                        music fades

to grey blocks   a boy and a girl     holds a parcel

 

brown paper and string     waiting for no-one     to take

the stones from their pockets     the sense of an ending

 

from their          yakkity          feet