heatwave

 

it were cracking’t pavements

the sky were chelsea blue

you were sucking cider

from an ice lolly

cos they said it made yer drunk

and we pretended it did

 

when yer scored a goal

on’t hay coloured pitch

yer mates were hot ‘n sweaty

and their celebrations

trickled down yer back

and salted yer lips

 

there were standpipes

at end’er sherwood grove

and we’d tek a daily

constitutional

to fill a bucket er watter

fer drinking

 

the bog went unflushed

me dad said

it were an unnecessary waste

of public resources

but sometimes

well yer just had’ter

 

girls wore next to ‘nowt

hormones were buzzing

like wazzers on a flower

back gardens

thrummed ter the sarnd

o’t sex pistols

 

evening bonfires

stoked the air

wi sensory fog

adding t’ert feeling

that t’earth were burning

that t’earth were screaming

 

we walked away from’t school gates

for’t last time - threw’t books in a dustbin

are futures stretching a’fore us

and ‘t hot coal summer

were cracking’t pavements

but we knew there were a storm coming..