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A Day in the Life.....

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I lie in Corporate cleanliness
Another night, another town
Sanitised box bed, in sanitised box room
Bereft of comforts for weary hearts
Missing the homeliness of familiar faces,
The tenderness of soft skin,
The welcome kiss after the hard day is done


Traffic noise permeates the window vents
Dulling the hum of the air-con high up
No children's laughter
No bedtime stories to read
No hungry mouths to feed
Just the pitter-patter of rain
Merged with TV sounds and corridor footsteps
Of other souls lost in the day-to-day


Empty shelving barely used
Solitary chair in the corner
One room like the next, and the next
Housing cloned bedding and linen
Used once then off for wash
While at home the same gets used again and again
Harbouring familiar smells of loved ones


The breakfast room fills with shirts and ties
All sitting one to a table.
Some sit and read the paper
Some sit and talk on the phone
Some just sit
No acknowledgement of eachother's existance.
Another day, another journey.

◄ Carry me home.

A Day in the Life (2) ►

Comments

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kealan coady

Tue 27th Oct 2009 12:04

I really like this poem, It reads well and the theme is solid. Great contrast throughout between comfortable and corporate life. Nice work.

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Dave Bradley

Mon 26th Oct 2009 12:35

Hi Andy. Have to agree with the others. I've experienced many work overnights and this paints the picture well. Part of it is the unsatisfied curiosity about all the strangers one is surrounded with - for what is normally a private meal - which you focus on in the last verse. Spot on

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Cynthia Buell Thomas

Mon 26th Oct 2009 11:03

This is really good, Andy. I'm sorry it took me so long to post. Of many images, I especially liked 'Corporate cleanliness', a great hook to catch the interest of your readers, and the much-used bed linen which 'harbours' the fragrance of families. Fabulous, intimate touches highlighting loneliness. Then the corker of isolation in the busy breakfast room.
I know you saw the typo in the second-last line. Hope editting comes soon to our poem blogs. I need it too, desperately.

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Nichola Burrows

Thu 22nd Oct 2009 16:37

Hi Andy, you epitomise sheer loneliness and longing in these words. I know that feeling, I had to work away from home once for three months in London, (I was from Oldham and didn't drive )I lived out of a hotel room, so impersonal and needless to say, lacking in the familiarity of family and friends. I remember looking around the breakfast and dinner area on some nights and seeing ''the other soul's lost in the day to day'' and realising at that point that I was one of them.

I agree with what Steve has said a very poignant picture painted, it would make a fantastic film clip with narration of the poem.

nicky x

Steve Smith

Thu 22nd Oct 2009 13:35

These are poignant word-pictures.Film with memory.
Well done.
Steve Smith

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