Hmmmmm, I wrote about the view from my window in hour six, so I'm going to remember the view from my tower block office, at the top of a very steep hill. The 'ugly, lovely town', is Swansea, now a city, as described in that quote by poet Dylan Thomas.
The Long View
You can almost see the earth
curve
from this D-block
window on the twelth floor.
You can watch
the buses pull up
and pull out
destined down toward
the ugly, lovely town
You can join the gathering crowd
peering down into a bedroom window
watch an in flagrante couple
part,
the lady cleaning up
discarding the tissue
from their open window.
This is the perfect length. Long enough to not lose the reader with the drifting tissue!
I really connected when I first read that this was about Swansea
I lived in the sister USA city.
Your pace is captivating
very interesting, Deborah! Having done a bit of Googling, I’m presuming that you lived in a US city called Swansea, rather than it being twinned with Swansea, Wales? There are many states in the US with cities called Swansea, do you mind me asking which you lived in? I’m considering going back to the uni to study an MA in creative writing, specialising in poetry, in 2018/19, which will be 24 years since I graduated with BSc in chemistry … gosh that makes me feel old 😉
Now that is funny – I was in Swansea, Illinois, US – we think we are your only twins, lol! Google has a way humblings such grand illusions
for anyone interested in what the office building was and what it looked/looks like, it was the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency, the central registration centre for all motor vehicles licenced in the UK. It was situated on Longview Road, Swansea. I worked on floor 12 of the 16-storey tower block, hence the view out of the windows. Here’s a website with some photos of the DVLA site 🙂 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/20-pictures-dvla-bring-memories-8804832