Opposites

By Shane Blades

Your world had that verdancy found in the countryside
While I felt all the tedium of a grey oppressed city
When you heard the calling of the corncrake – a rarity now
I listened to the constant conversation of diesels
Finding myself too close to their heavy fumed breathing

Your view saw clarity, watched dipped cornflower skies
With fish minnowing the luculent waters
Which run untainted through ancient hills
And groves of oak that greened their monoliths beyond
Open and peaceful was your view of our world

Mine was different. It ranged across stark buildings
Grey lined and close, I felt their silent suspirations
A sleepless world constantly shifting
Where a thousand motorcars accelerated past
A swarm of metal locusts, noisily devouring space

While you lay still in the evening, hearing only silence
My ears absorbed the harshness of a constant cacophony
Opposite worlds that bordered us separately
Too different to cede us any common ground
But somewhere in the middle of a poem was where I met you.

Shane Blades lives in Kingston upon Hull, and currently he works full time for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. His role is in the training and development department. A lover of poetry since childhood, he was inspired by  the writings of Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin, WB Yeats and Arthur Rimbaud.  Only recently has he taken to reading and performing his poetry at local events. His current aims are to publish a collection of his poetry, and to develop an online magazine. This will highlight the cultural aspects of his home city and its surrounding areas.