Jim Bennett on the
shortcut
the lane to school
cut short the walk
along the busy road
slip through the gap in the hedge
and the lane was there
on one side the wall
of the old market
its barbed wire top
festooned with strips
of windblown plastic
old bags, feathers,
and tights
flapping and twisting
like Tibetan prayer flags
on the other - a fence
its rust iron bars like spears
pointing at the sky
and beyond
a rolling field
that changed
with each week of the year
the lane in parts
became a battlefield
as soldiers threw
themselves against the
soil bank for cover
in other parts
you would duck
from tree to tree
on an espionage
mission
latter I would find
the lane and its hidden turns
ideal for first kisses
and fumbled intimacy
and one special time
against the wall
for finding out about myself
the Council tried to tarmac it once
but must have given up
the tarmac runs thinner and thinner
then stops after a short way in
as if the lane turns
back to the soil and weeds
of memory
© Copyright Jim Bennett 2006