The North End

 

     My shoes do not fit this day,

just like yesterday and the day before,

   it is a shame as,

     football season has we young aspiring -

wanting to play Gemmel, or, Shilton.

 

     I need my shoes to last as,

the playground has broken glass

decorate the concrete in between

   the K9 excretia.

 

     It is a long way down to the glass

and grey atop the climbing frame,

   I think I save these worn out soles

for a better day.

 

     Our kid and I had a fight,

But, it were just sparing in the

boxing club made for kids with

   no stuffing but leather mitts,

  so we cried some tears but,

     they didn’t know we were brothers.

 

     When the rain has finished the

addition of damp that have the earwigs

climb from the window ledge to avoid the drown,

   I may play a game of football,

     Our kid can be City,

   I might be the Accrington Stanley,

        as I like that advert!

 

     Ours is a school field on the back

we’re not allowed to play as the caretaker

shoos us away yet,

     It is the only field without dog shit

   for us to be United, or City, Liverpool or,

     Accrington Stanley as,

        I like that advert.

 

2.

 

     Today it is Sunny,

and wow, we’re playing water fights

   with fairy up bottles and,

     Our Susan is grinning profusely at

me as I know, she killed my stic….Goldfish

   with fairy up liquid.

 

     I am scared so, goona go on the

  back field and play sixty seconds.

 

     Wait, Ged, Damian and Dominic

have turned up, they have turned up with more

kids than needed to field Liverpool, United, City,

Stockport, the Latics (beware of Chorlton),

   and more than a crowd seen at Tranmere.

 

     Sixty Seconds is a great game but,

how we goona touch the ball for six seconds

when playing forty a side?

   I have never seen so many smiling faces

on the Estate where Glue Bags Stick to Broken Bus Stops.

 

     This is a great day and today,

I am going to be Preston North End,

as I goona be a fan as no chance of kicking the ball,

   stand down Accrington and besides,

          ‘who are they?’

 

3.

 

     ‘I know a tale about Accrington,

the train left with all the men in nineteen-sixteen,

   not much older than we,

      every one came back within a month,

         everyone of them came back dead!’

 

4.

 

     There is almost a hundred here,

glad my shoes made it this far but,

   it would be good to have those sports shoes,

    I have not kicked the ball yet but,

  I like to see every boy on the estate together,

           smiling.

 

     I do wonder though,

we’re not far from that age and,

   how many will be on a train to a real field

     adorned with white crosses and headstones -

        upon our hopeful future,

           how many from this land fill estate?

 

     I am now filled with sorrow just as

the ball ricochets off me,

   for how many days do we get to really

     say hello where, we are often meeting at

         Othen House for a crisis loan and never

              upon the same shadow cast by the flats?

 

5.

 

     This is my best day ever upon this estate,

today I am Shankly or, Jordan or,

   Willie Willie Willie Morgan on our wing

     or Bestie or Keegan or all at once

         and not upon a ring with leather mitts to

           fight my loved brother and,

               Today, Sugdens; Ged, Damian, Dominic, - I salute you all.

 

 

Michael J Waite 14th July 2023.

                                                        For Darnhill Housing Estate.