I loved London, I loved my flatmate Alex
and how he'd stare into space, chewing,
with his arm shoved down the cereal box.
I loved pound coins, small and heavy,
grey-gold and found in pockets, handed
to polite men selling fish and chips in Camden.
I loved the silly indie rock bars full of girls
with fringe and ballet flats. I miss the four-floor
clubs, pulsing, filled with people, people
I loved navigating a bad part of the city at night,
Fear and shadows, figures in black who smelled
like drugs as they passed
I loved the European alley cats padding around
and staring while we smoked. The European birds
overhead, how they don't flee England's wet winter
instead cawing in the trees, the ones lining
Jerningham road, black spidery bursts
like the articles chimney sweeps carry,
and I loved those too,
I loved a whole country that felt like you could see
a chimney sweep walking down the street, easy,
walking home to washing-up liquid and tea mugs,
thanks I'd love a cup, how it’s said half-hushed,
the Rizla rolling papers and silk cut cigarettes,
The aubergines and courgettes,
spongy puddings, fishy mixtures I wouldn't touch
and the fruitcakes and trifles and toffees
I loved the jolly formalities, the British reserve,
are you all right, well done, nice one,
restating a friend's name when receiving their phone call
I loved the blondie Louise with long hair, a fairy
who came from Devon, I pictured magic forests
I loved the sweet land-protecting laws and the police
in black bullet hats, blond women cops with ponytails
looking preoccupied
I loved the men I met, their gentle vowels, how
they held me up to dance, how my dance was all
about them
as my wine rushed to the floor
I loved sitting with a Thomas V. Felton,
both of us poor and people watching, telling him
what I learned by living, then listening,
on Oxford street one night after not shopping
I loved the youths, record-store rifling students,
clubgoers, party boys with buzzcuts, cider,
chaps and chavs, and inversely the businessman
I chatted with coming home at 8 AM, I found
I loved the men’s lack of mustaches, the black cabs
and double deckers,
the cracking concrete street, hedgerows
and rubbish bins, I loved it all and missed it
even before I left, packing for home in the morning dark,
lifting my load of luggage and longing,
the feeling of something
being ripped from me as I rode the tube to Heathrow
Used by permission of the author
ABOUT ADRIANA DIGENNARO
A member of the Academy of American Poets, Adriana DiGennaro studies literature and creative writing at Bennington College in Vermont. Her first book of poetry, Peripheral Vision, was published in June 2001 by Writers Ink Press. Her poetry has been featured in Red River Review, BigCityLit.Com, PoetryBay, The Aurora Review, Tryst3, Ancient Heart (United Kingdom), Eclectica, City Writers Review, Poetry Midwest, Esopian, Adagio Verse Quarterly, Falling Star Magazine, Wonder Writings, Long Island Quarterly, Triplopia, Clean Sheets, Sidereality, Southern Ocean Review (New Zealand), Perigee and The Improper Hamptonian. She was on Red River Review’s list of nominees for a Pushcart Prize in 2001. Her second book, Acts of Contrition, is due out in the summer of 2006 by Writers Ink Press. Her work is also included in The Light of City and Sea (Street Press 2006), an anthology of Suffolk County poetry edited by Suffolk County Poet Laureate Daniel Thomas Moran; the poetry anthology, In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself edited by Marlow Peerse Weaver (MWE Press, 2005), Whispers of Inspiration:An Anthology of New American Poets edited by Darlene and Steven Manchester ( Sunpiper Press, September 2005); Ancient Heart Magazine Poetry Anthology Vol. III edited by Richard James van der Draaij (Ancient Heart Press, 2005).
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