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Seaside ghosts

by Jojovits1 

Posted: 15 March 2021
Word Count: 90
Summary: Like a lot of seaside towns, my home town is a very bleak shadow of what it was like in its hay day.


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Glasgow Fair
would bring them,
licking ice cream 
from fingers,
bucket and spade
in one hand,
Tennants in the other.

Chip shops and cafes
would heave
and spill them 
on to the High Street
smelling of
good cheer
and vinegar.

Their ghosts
still browse
behind
boarded windows
and haunt
the arcades
with the desperate.

Once paved 
with gold
the empty streets
now scatter
homeless
and needles 
at our feet.

I love it
still.
This town
is in my DNA.
In my heart
she still
sparkles
and welcomes
me home.






















 






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Comments by other Members



crowspark at 00:02 on 16 March 2021  Report this post
Brilliant take on the challenge. Seaside towns have this twin aspect. I lived for a time in Hastings and your poem reminded me of the ghostly experience of living in a seaside town in Winter which for me was summed up by the experience of watching snow fall on the beach and the breaking waves.

Their ghosts
still browse
behind
boarded windows
and haunt
the arcades
with the desperate.

Loved the sparkle of your final stanza.
 

FelixBenson at 00:22 on 16 March 2021  Report this post
A fantastic take on the challenge, Jo! Immediately brought to mind my time in seaside towns out of season, or memories of the seaside towns I went to as a kid.

Lots of love in the shadows here. The light and shade of hiraeth beautifully captured!

Jojovits1 at 00:27 on 16 March 2021  Report this post
Personally, I always preferred Ayr beach in the winter.  Avoided it like the plague in summer, especially during Glasgow Fair.

Its heartbreaking to see how far she has fallen but she’s not alone.  At least there is a big, independent arts community trying to bring some life back to her.

And if circumstances allowed...I’d still move back in an instant. heart

V`yonne at 01:10 on 16 March 2021  Report this post
God, I just love 

Their ghosts
still browse
behind
boarded windows
and haunt
the arcades
with the desperate.

It's so lockdown and so nostalgic and so haunts my memories of Portrush.

Wonderful poem Jo.


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