Pimento Poets: A new poem by Philip Dunn.

 Abandoned Lines




1  Outward  - 30th September 1939


The platform had emptied like a
scuttle its coal, leaving only
Miss Geddes, (a tear in her eye?)
and the guard with his flag raised,
half- turning away;
a volley from the carriage doors
dividing them utterly from
those now dispatched,
parcelled in promises,
labelled like luggage.

Dressed, in haste, in Sunday best,
cardboard cases quite abandoned,
fingers clamp the lowered windows,
faces press the filmy glass, to
see the last familiar landmarks
vanish in the smoke.

Then, as at some hidden sign,
the watching crowd dissolves away.
Seats are sought and places settled,
squatters’ rights secured by threats,
or captured by treaties
cemented with sandwiches.

The carriage expands with the hollowness
of questions that can’t be answered.
Bare thighs fidget
on the threadbare moquette.

c. Philip Dunn.