The Fall of the West Pier

Listen to The Fall of the West Pier now – just press on the link below.

Rumbling crushing crumbling
oblivious to reason it moves over pebbles
seeking its prey.
A huge head hovers, steely eye glints
as massive neck swings high in the air
peers over pickings.
Pillars and poles, wrought iron railings
a mountain of memories
in heaps on the beach.
Rumbling crashing crumbling
remnants of the ballroom
like a doomed Titanic fall.

Two giant orange crab like cranes
crawl from foreshore to the sea
shifting and sifting
through the shingle.
Their greedy mouths picking
over the debris
where ribbons of mussels cling.

Flimsy metal window frames
float like disembodied birds
beaten into submission
tossed into lorries for landfill.

A huge tower of steel and glass
will be its tombstone.
Long queues will make their way
for a chance to glance
at an uncertain landscape

“Doesn’t it look tidy now?”
says a passer-by.

 

Poem on youtube with film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNfohzeD7LU