Poem
John Siddique
THOUGHTS YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED BY #1
THOUGHTS YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED BY #1
THOUGHTS YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED BY #1
Some people really want the worldto be a beautiful place,
they make consistent efforts
pruning and mowing and even
making a flowerbed
by the side of the road
with bricks, soil and cuttings
from their own garden.
Where before it was just dusty pink gravel,
there is clematis,
and some plants whose names I don’t know.
She goes inside to admire her work
from the window.
Catches her son\'s eye in a photo
on her way to the kitchen,
washes the soil from her hands,
and goes outside to continue her memory.
The tree was a lot smaller then.
She hears the sound of play and looks
over the garden wall,
and thinks Paki bastards
at the 4 and 5 year old kids playing house.
© 2005, John Siddique
From: The Prize
Publisher: The Rialto, Norwich
From: The Prize
Publisher: The Rialto, Norwich
John Siddique
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1964)
John Siddique is a poet, whose first full collection of poetry The Prize (Rialto) was published last year. He is a co-author of Four Fathers (Route) and the editor of Transparency (Crocus Books). His poem ‘Variola’ received a nomination for best single poem for 2004’s Forward Prize and his new collection, Poems From a Northern Soul, will be published this autumn.
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Poems of John Siddique
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THOUGHTS YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED BY #1
Some people really want the worldto be a beautiful place,
they make consistent efforts
pruning and mowing and even
making a flowerbed
by the side of the road
with bricks, soil and cuttings
from their own garden.
Where before it was just dusty pink gravel,
there is clematis,
and some plants whose names I don’t know.
She goes inside to admire her work
from the window.
Catches her son\'s eye in a photo
on her way to the kitchen,
washes the soil from her hands,
and goes outside to continue her memory.
The tree was a lot smaller then.
She hears the sound of play and looks
over the garden wall,
and thinks Paki bastards
at the 4 and 5 year old kids playing house.
From: The Prize
THOUGHTS YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED BY #1
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