Brian Strand Poet Bio

P Is For Poverty

victorian canal life - the reality (a true tale  from from my maternal heritage )

We left our abode 
       in old Cowfair
  haggled a price 
for an old shire mare

Onto the 
     landlord's canal boat
lock stock and barrel 
        for a life afloat

farewell to our 
     Buckingham birthplace &
its meagre living 
     from old point lace
dawdled slow 
   up to Cosgrove
 taking our meals
   . . around a blackened stove

our moveable house 
    painted castle& rose
not a life
    we would have chose

Eighteen fifties harsh 
&
mean
   coal cargo
 so nothing stays clean

doff your cap touch your forelock 
every two mile 
   at 
the gatekeeper's lock

Fresh food scarce 
     except for fish
perch & roach
       a staple dish

clothes dry 
on a washing line strung
out for a timeout
  the toddlers young their
number so soon increased & grew
places to sleep 
    all too few
family life impossibly hard 
  so back  to a tied cottage
 in 
Aylesbury's Anchorage yard

Copyright © Brian Strand | Year Posted 2007

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