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North Sheen Allotment

Alex Saynor

Thursday, January 29th, 2015

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Sleeping in an allotment in North Sheen
Storm petrels and cormorants overhead
I think about the Balearics,
that Balearic beat,
the summer of love 1988
Ecstasy was riding a BMX as light faded,
kicking a ball at the garages,
chatting to the milkman
on freezing Saturday mornings
before football training. The summer of love
lasted until 1989 apparently.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 For me it lasted a whole lot longer.
My first evening kick-off
at home to Chester, Michael Cole
with a bicycle kick, dad chatting to Edie
behind us, well into her eighties.
The Cottage was a ramshackle place,
ripped up seating, weeds growing
through the terraces, low attendances.
No memory for me of flags
along the riverside, 50,000 crammed in
against Millwall. It was just enough
to be there. No empty stands –

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 promotions, millions, satellite coverage –
could touch the times we had.

© Alex Saynor 2015

Notes

At the age of 6 I didn’t care about the standard of football,and didn’t notice the ground was a mess- it really was just enough to be there.
Editor Note:
Great imagery Alex..Weeds on the terraces…remember it like yesterday.One Saturday The Cottage , the next The Bridge. Icy walks by the Thames and those flags I was .lucky enough to have them flutter behind me in a haze of pipe smoke and caps..I remember I cut my finger really badly and it was freezing…Fulham v Posh (Peterboro) in the Cup one January.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/summer-of-love/