Created with words from residents, school-children, workers and visitors of the London Road area
Meet me at the Greenway’s secret stop –
the former Locomotive Works, where
ghost trains play along a wild track.
Meet me for a picnic in Valley Gardens,
a sandwich of year-round rainbows,
or Preston Park, a sand-pit in your shoes.
Meet me on the Level’s swings and slides,
or under the Open Market’s many flags.
Find a family of foxes at the Royal Pavilion.
Meet me for chips on Brighton Beach,
where the ocean’s eyes are blobs of paint.
Meet me for candy-floss and turbo-coasters on the Pier.
Meet me up at Devil’s Dyke with your dog,
to see the city and the sea at once, or Seaford’s
frothy cliff, so thin we’ll be talking on air…
Meet me at Stanmer Park, where clouds
graze with fluffy sheep. Climb the hill
by Moulsecoomb Station. Look back, gasping,
at the view – the ocean’s twinkly jazz hands.
There’s more to openness than sky and sea.
You came from sandy shores where you caught
more glances. Here, the beaches are pebbly,
like smashed glass or hard sweets, and yet
the streets are comfortable to move through.
Meet me in the future, the horizon’s headspace,
where it’s clean, safe, no litter – only excited glitter.
An affordable richness of grassroots,
a playground for every age. Meet me
by foot, by bike – ride the human locomotive.
Our voice is the deep drip of nature’s church.
Gather crunchy leaves and sea-glass.
Graffiti this city with signature smiles.
If only we could spend more days outside,
but time eats life. We must take the moments
that come, let them into our lungs. Defrazzle
like an unexpected waterfall. Take off our shoes, socks,
feel uncomfortable at first – the only way
to toughen up. Remember, all cities are clearings
in the forest. Even these everyday migrations,
on the way or coming home, can show us how
to settle again, how to build a force-field.
Another kind of being moved.
Another kind of growth.
Beth Calverley
The Poetry Machine
London Road Area Local Action Team 