Observation

The village boys had played in the old cotton mill
They had swum in its dams
Climbed on the derelict machinery
Even when the developers moved in
They could not keep these crafty kids
Outside of their security fences

Joe knew
That the guy who had brought the University
To town, had created and lived in
This seriously upmarket development
The whole town had seen Tom Smithson’s
Presence grow; he was certainly no stranger
To publicity, or to the local media

For the first few days it was planned...

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Against The Flow

The students were sat in the bar
Some wanted to go downtown
Joe wanted to find Desiree
James wanted to talk more about music
Academia was at one an amusement
Yet also a distraction

Joe could hold his own here
His quick wit more than compensation
For lack of certification
Or attendance at secondary school
But Joe had no depth of concentration
He sought instant gratification
He could still smell the musk of love
As he spoke out...

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Questions

The young student was impetuous and eager
Did you ask him how he wrote the lyrics
Did you ask him where he first played
Did you ask him where does he think
He is going to go next with his music

Questions rattled off
At such a pace which suggested
That there was little time to wait for answers
But Joe fielded the questions
Studiously, thoughtfully, steadily

Here in the calm of the coffee house
He could not use the one word answers
Which he had shouted out in the pub
Over the blare of the Juke Box
Anyway James was a more serious student

He had been quiet
On the night they first met...

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Family

Tom’s daughter Desiree was the love of his life
She had hung on when his wife could not
He would have given his all, or so he said
For the relationships between the three of them
To have been somewhat different

Tom had made his money in microfiche
He had been in at the beginning
Of the electronic archive revolution
Now he held the licence, for the world’s foremost
Document storage and recovery software

It was produced on all continents
Sold by internet, shipped worldwide overnight
He was a very wealthy self-made man
Desiree was the love of his life
But she was also the trouble of his life...

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Stonework

Down the valley from the town
An old cotton mill provides
Modern, tastefully developed
Executive accommodation

As the advertisements claim:
Village life accommodation, with a nearby wealthy
Town community; electric gates, double garages
With elevators to totally safe environments

The mill, a century earlier
Had been a place of graft, of industry
Driven by water wheels
The buildings had teemed over with factory workers

Many who were no more than children
Weaving, spinning, combing, finishing...

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