I lived in Cambridge, five years long,
just up the road from Jesus Green,
the site of lido, article,
as illustrated, Varsity,
this image unreal, for its scene.
‘Ill-fated trip, the lido’ named,
so how this linked, alongside pews –
suggests this treats the Baptist church,
submersible, the Jordan’s blue,
or even azure, given hue?
When is in-tense, desire expressed,
conditional, the other mood?
With no context, some snippet verse
is cutting, letters, poison pen,
demand, or wish-list, amateur?
If church, community of faith,
that One with nowhere, lay his head,
then paradise not tropical,
some transfer, values of this world,
but gutter shared with guttersnipes.
Stephen Kingsnorth (Cambridge M.A., English & Religious Studies), retired to Wales, UK, from ministry in the Methodist Church, with Parkinson’s Disease, has had pieces published by on-line poetry sites, printed journals and anthologies, most recently The Sweetycat Press, The Parliament Literary Magazine, Poetry Potion, Grand Little Things, The Poet Magazine, Stone Poetry Journal.
https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/