Snap Notts: Lenton

As Mike & I Wander Lenton

Dear Lenton, lovechild of the Leen,

you new, you old, you bridging the gap,

you fourteen thousand identities

in concrete communities,

tell me – how do we capture your heart?                            

“It’s quarter past nine. Best make a start.” We finish our pints

and depart, begin our beat through the veins of your streets.   

Sun sets overhead, colours explode as loud and bright

as old man Fiat beating boy racer to the lights.

We leave behind a Crown, pass stubbed cigarette

warehouse, wander under a Concrete Enterprise,

student crews yearning for learning,

wondering where tomorrow’s frontiers lie.

Scratched up brick next to modern monoliths,

steel needle piercing the sky. A jogger blurs past,

under streetlight tapestry, brake lights smearing

crimson off Triumph Road where the 36

slices through, lifeline to nightlife,

flashing green men and amber strobe lights.

We peer down over bridge over edge of world over

Earthbound comets in distant night horizon.

Above, flights skim patchwork fields & inner-city concrete & Mike and I

(ants to those sky eyes) shuffle past Faraday Road and tucked away homes,

down the boulevard in August, an almost-autumn whisper,

doorway with seven religious signs, some I don’t recognise.

Fancy dress disappears up alleyway for midnight piss,

two young doves in love, under streetlight spotlight, share a kiss.

Authentic Jamaica sign on a street of church, leftover student screams,

2am soliloquies, green bins wait hungrily on street corners

for morning rise, for hands to pull them open, to empty their guts.

Tinted window creeps along silent side streets, scent of burning herb.

Life-size celebrity cut-outs in windows of students digs, terraced

stain glass porches, left at roundabout toward city silhouette

as we join the domino souls passing T’Gove,

once a luscious grove, gone the way our hubs go…

Dear Lenton, lovechild of the Leen,

you life blood, arteries turned toward Arboretum,

you student helping mother & pram onto bus,

you melting pot, you open door,

you Jubilee, you QMC, I’m scared to ask, you see,

but tell me – did we capture your heart?

If you would like to follow this poem – or even better, write a response to our journey – follow the directions below:

Start at The Crown on Western Boulevard

Walk East up Wollaton Road, turning right onto Triumph Road

At the end of the road, turn left onto Derby Road

Turn right onto Lenton Boulevard

At the end of the road, turn left onto Castle Boulevard