Poetry from the Riverbank

Thanks to Terry, a Preston resident who cares about the River Ribble and his local environment, for this excellent and thought-provoking poem...

Riverworks, the Ribble

The Project,
Getting the river to work
The Council’s right
The river’s old enough
To earn its keep.
It’s had its chance
Meandering through
A few thousand years
Get real, get a job,
Stop pouting
In a teenage rage
Over high tides
Or lazing away a low tide
While birds get a free lunch
From menus of untidy mud.
If I work, it works,
And it will.
Dragged out of bed
By the arms of a crane
Straightened up,
Built up,
Pumping brick till its sides
Take the weight
Of bars and shops selling
Pictures of rivers curving
Through green and pleasant lands.
No more rising in its own time,
Shaken awake by early calls
From jet skis and fun,
Propped up against dams
To stop it falling back,
Pushing turbines, pushing wheels,
There’ll be sweat flooding off
Into crumpled fields that are
Stored out of sight
Under four thousand lawns
And those birds will graft
Nothings free
As the man said,
Thanks to the Council
And wheels within wheels,
In five years
I’ll be reading a book
By the light
From the work
Of a duck.
And you can’t argue with that.

Terry Q., Broadgate.

See more residents' views, pictures, and poetry
Tales from the Riverbank
More Tales from the Riverbank
Residents' Concerns
Ribble Photographs

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