In That Space

Concrete and glass,

shiny stainless steel,

reflecting images

of distorted strollers,

shoppers

and coffee shoppers

passing each other by.

Walking purposefully 

or aimlessly 

footfalling

on the spotless tiles,

still damp

from their overnight

mechanical

wash and brush up.

Texting or talking

into phones

clamped to ears.

But then the street cracks open,

lifts its cheap veneer

so you see behind

the facades

and the cracks reveal

another place

and its people

living

in that space.

A glimpse of narrow streets

of tenements and courts

and terraces

with washing hanging

and children playing,

women gossiping.

Human sounds and smells,

and animal too, 

but working or wild,

not petted.

A different time

in that same space.

if you look through the cracks.

https://4fpstreetcracks.blogspot.com/2025/08/lynn-white.html