Window Shoppers

28th April


Soon there won't be any shops for the window shoppers to browse in . That would be a shame.







12th April 2018

A response to The Wasteland , by T.S.Eliot. 
I have used some of his lines throughout this poem.

Window Shoppers 

Last year for three months

 it was a bookshop,

large windows, terracotta frontage.
Mrs Baker came in on Thursdays,
after her visit to the hairdressers,
silver grey re-curled 
She'd stay for an hour, maybe more,
run her stick along the floor,
always buy a book. 

Then for nineteen weeks, 

the owner was very precise,

 it was a florists,
violet, red, yellow, speckled the various
shades of green all along the front.

Long departed now, no forwarding address .

For many months thereafter,
empty, memory and desire stirring,
 Walls burned green and orange,

 Framed by coloured stone, 
musty odor, like gas, escaping to g

concerned passers by. 

Today, newly painted in purple gloss, 
no sign of dross or moss, 
now, offices of a law firm.
Suited men, women,
carry briefcases,
frowns on their brows 
enter in the morning  at 8.30
and leave in the evening at five

Next door is the Corner Café, 
chairs spill out onto pebbles and pavement
the inviting smell of bacon,

 percolated coffee,
 summer sun reflects sky upon glass tops.

On rainy days the sound of chatter and a clatter,
 from within.

where  little groups huddle together round small tables,

Elegantly laid with tea pots,  china cups, saucers

Here, town councilors drink coffee 
nod their heads,  talk for an hour.

On the other side of the cafe, 

two hollow sepulchers
 stand empty, unloved,
long abandoned
grubby from want of human touch,
plaster falls from walls,

Nothing to attract the lover of beauty, 

or  the discerning window shopper. 

But,  beside them,  New Look 
glass front displays goods , 
racks of colour entice hungry shoppers
 to step inside.
a few staff members hover in anticipation,
try to catch the eye.

Up and down the street,  people wander,
 most out for a stroll ,
 not to buy, just to look

As one might go to the woods or the mountains.

No need today to rush about the shops
no need to get frustrated trying
  to find those items that we need. 

Instead, from the comfort of our sofa,
 on any number of electronic devices,
we  purchase what we want.

The High Street only a leisure activity

"Let's have a walk around the shops”  -  people say.

A museum of past times -
 you ought to be ashamed to look so antique.

What a wicked pack of cards for shopkeepers ,
 dealing as they do in profit and loss

With rates going up and would be customers 
 only window shopping.

Soon they will be gone -
 ruins tolling reminiscent bells

And I will show you fear in a handful of dust.