the back lawn (between two housing estates)

 

is where we built those secret camps

and tied boobie traps in the long grass

 

is where we found dock leaves for nettle stings

and St. Pauls club built the boxing ring

 

is where the path to school cut right through

and the pissy-beds and sticky-backs grew

 

is where we knew not to go after dark

and tied washing line swings round aging bark

 

is where the man hid in his black hat

and where the youth club was set up

 

is where our mothers said we should avoid

and wooden pallets piled into shrines

 

is where we drank cider on dark Halloweens

and had our first real kiss when we were thirteen

 

is where shadows crept along graffiti walls

and bonfires blazed from night till morning

 

is where NEDZER WOZ ERE B 4 U

and they got sick from sniffing glue

 

is where Olivia said that she was raped

and we sat in grass to make daisy chains

 

is where we watched Olivia overdose

and big old oaks were our chaperones

 

is where we checked our necks with buttercups

and the paramedics tried to wake her up

 

Gail Sheridan

(From The Waxed Lemon Issue 8)