ANDREW DARLINGTON

I KNOW NOBODY WHO LIVES AROUND HERE

I used to know my way around here
the back-alley ginnels and towpaths
the twisted listed lanes and dogwalks 
where best to avoid the bad guys,
the ‘Fleece’ beergarden on the corner
where they had troubadour nights and
wild drunk poems, now flat conversion
ghostplaces empty of familiar faces,
is that woman the girl we used to drink 
white lightning and smoke joints with 
in mudspace beneath the rec trees?
we meet again in the snapshots 
on my phone-app,
I used to know my way around
but no longer recognise here, 
on these last nights of the world
I’m one step removed
into lost and confused

                                         

*****************copyright Andrew Darlington

ANDREW DARLINGTON has walked the magma crust of the Nisyros volcano. James Lowe of the Electric Prunes is his Facebook friend. And Kink Dave Davies answered his Tweet. He writes about music for ‘R’N’R’ (Rock ‘n’ Reel), and counter-culture for ‘IT: International Times’. His latest poetry collection is ‘Tweak Vision: The Word-Play Solution To Modern-Angst Confusion’ and his Scientifiction Novel ‘In The Time Of The Breaking’ are both from Alien Buddha Press, USA. His writing can be found at ‘Eight Miles Higher’: http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.co.uk/