Street litter

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

“in the street of the sky night walks scattering poems”

e.e. Cummings
October winds pursue. Night follows quickly
harrying my footsetps in gusts. Only a brown glass bottle
keeps pace, rolling down the gutter
noisy as a drunk.

An idle pack of leaves loiters at the corner
comes to heel as  I pass, and just as suddenly
scatters. hurtling headlong, eager to reconvene
And in their wake, like struggling kites,
untidy trails of paper lift and fall
and fall and lift again. But one at least
is scrambled, up and out of sight.

As if encouraged by this plucky flight,
a plastic carrier takes one enormous suck of air
balloons above, escorting with it all the clutter
decomposing there.

As per the epigraph, in the Imaginary Garden, Sanaa has invoked as prompt the last line from Cummings’ “The hours rise up…”

26 thoughts on “Street litter”

  2. You’re making me fall in love with October in your poems 😉 this is absolutely awe-inspiring, I can picture the ‘motley trails of paper’ and love how you compare them to kites. Thank you so much for writing to the prompt, Laura 💜

  3. These lines are as alive as the objects you describe. I love the way you breathe vitality into everything you walk past: the winds, the night, the bottle. And the pack of leaves, like a gang idling on the corner. Such a fascinating perspective. Love it!

  4. I love the gusty, leafy, blustery feel of this walk through October.

  5. From the causal ushering, slightly pushing, for the edge, the seasons changing, – lovely imagery, wind hurrying along, (I imagine it tugging and prodding the back of a coat) – noticing the brown bottle (I can hear it rattling) …. keeping pace, and then on the corner, a leaf pile, “brought to heel” – which is just such a rich image and very stunning for the words ….
    then, a sudden turn – the uplift, as mentioned! All of this is wonderful.

    I really like how you’ve taken a slice of “normal” and pulled out the details, and used them to really set the scene, create the ambiance and essence of Fall, and given them such a unique perspective. The white carrier bag, blowing open and being caught in the wind, expelling … all it contains … a very atmospheric and flavoured feeling to this – a clean sweep, which is just like looking for the scatterings of poems, the bits and pieces everywhere …

    This is a great walk with the prompt Laura 🙂

    1. as usual some great observations and understandings from you Pat – the street litter is like my thoughts, I sometimes catch snatches of poems on my walkabouts and then I imagined the ballooning bag whisking them away with it

      1. thank you ~ and yes, that is a wonder image and metaphor … I rather find it just the right touch of delight, fanciful, as well as edged with just enough of a dose of the serious thinker/philosopher;
        and so, may you continue to enjoy the walkabouts and magical moments when poems and other musings come along as companions, both lighted and shadowed.

  7. the imagery here is delightful – leaves coming to heel… I fine ode to October

  8. Like others, this is a vivid walk through our crappy urban streetscape. I like how you’ve animated/observed these scenes without sentimentality – the bottle keeping pace, the pack of leaves ‘heeling’, the papers trying to fly – and the uplift in the end – both comic and sad at the same time. Very autumnal.

    1. yes we take so much of our urban grunge for granted and make it an art form but ‘crappy’ is the truth of it.I like your comic/sad observation too

  11. I felt every line of this, as though we were walking arm in arm. Lovely.

  12. kaykuala

    But one at least is scrambled, up and out of sight
    then, as if encouraged by this lucky flight,
    a plastic carrier opens with an enormous suck of air

    In some trying moments there may be a silver lining that renders help at that desperate moment.

    Hank

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