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On hearing buskers after a classical concert

by  James Graham

Posted: Monday, December 29, 2008
Word Count: 94




On hearing buskers after a classical concert

The city was full of music too! Sibelius
had spoken, but this was streetwise. In the jaws
of Bradford and Bingley they jangled and sang.

This rough polyphony, how could it echo
in the spongey woods? The heels of the concert crowd,
where would they have gone among soft grassland?

But here they made applause. Praise stone and pavement,
be glad of this armour laid on the restless earth
and the fluid, crushable worm. We crossed over

and poured our coins, and they clicked in the banjo-box.