Covent Garden Garden Gone

By Kathy Pimlott

Photo:Demolition of community Garden

Demolition of community Garden

Copyright Covent Garden Community Association

Photo:Community Garden Endell Street 1978

Community Garden Endell Street 1978

Copyright Covent Garden Community Association

Photo:Flowers blossom in the community garden

Flowers blossom in the community garden

Copyright Covent Garden Community Association

Photo:Endell Street Festival in the community garden, 1978

Endell Street Festival in the community garden, 1978

Copyright Covent Garden Community Association

Photo:Children playing in the Japanese garden, c1975

Children playing in the Japanese garden, c1975

Copyright Covent Garden Community Association

Now it’s a blunt blind pile

of nothing-to-do-with-you,

something between Lubyanka

and the Great Pyramid at Giza.

 

For two blue summers

it was our bowl of worms,

where brick-born babies aired

raw rash and fat knees, toes

curling to the thrill of grass.

 

And flushed children,

unlatched by clotted phlox,

Sweet William and sweetpeas,

filched unfeasibly sweet peas,

dangled from the bridge to tease

frilled axolotls with the pale gape

of throttled snapdragons.

 

Our hopeless defiance in Nelly Moser,

Scarlet Emperor, pursey lupins,

where caterpillars ruminated on

the costliest lettuces in London.

First published in South Bank Poetry (2012)

This page was added by Hope Wolf on 19/06/2013.
Comments about this page

And soon to be turned into a building site once again, to the detriment of local people.

By Christine
On 14/03/2017

If you're already a registered user of this site, please login using the form on the left-hand side of this page.