Number Four Lipow Strasse

 

Number Four Lipow Strasse

 

Hey, please take a look at all

the graffiti

covered ghetto walls over

here where it

seems that both Schindler’s

broken heart

and his conscience still have

     value and purpose ..

Oh’ and please take a peek

at least, at number

four Lipow Strasse, while you

   are passing through ..

You will note it’s still heaving

as much now

  as it ever did, back in the day ..

When ladies

with their faux ermine would

pound these

all too familiar streets, late at

  night until morning ..

Some folk, are now saying it’s

too damp, cold

   and dark in there but get this ..

It’s still a far cry

from the hovels that pretend

to be hotels

falling down and into canals

    by the waterfront ..

And anyway, the various scents

that come from

inside Café Alchemia are just as

inviting today

as they have ever been, since

at least the mid

sixteenth century .. And now

on looking back,

I recall it was somewhere up

there, in a small

third floor apartment that she

  turned to face me

   and said, no you don’t look old ..

You just look tired

and a bit worn, that’s all, much

like this old quilt

we both lay under and these

torn curtains

and the nineteen-thirties flock

wallpaper we try to

burn to keep warm throughout

the long nights of

another lonely winter or until

we are buried

    and eventually become liberated ..

 

 

 

Reviews

[RomaJ]

Neville, this poem is a moving reflection on memory, history, and the passage of time. I love how the imagery..graffiti, old quilts, torn curtains, and flocked wallpaper, creates a tangible sense of place while evoking both personal and collective history.

There’s a quiet melancholy woven through the observations, yet also a sense of resilience and continuity, as if the past and present coexist in the same space.

It left me lingering on the way ordinary objects and streets carry the weight of memory and human experience.

[Neville]

You got it Roma .. and you got it so well .. thank you ma'am for helping to restore some faith in myself .. Take care & write on my friend .. Neville

[Chris Shaw]

I feel as though I have been on a guided tour through history which has stirred many emotions Neville. The visual detail in the text a reminder of past lives. Sad lives, sad stories. People who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tragic. It’s good in my opinion to visit although it can be painful. It means they are not forgotten, and we shouldn’t forget the devastation capable by our own war mongering species. And it’s never over is it? Always persecution going on somewhere in the world. And today Remembrance Sunday and I expect you like me will remember the sacrifices made for our freedom and hope that we always have it. That final line, so meaningful. Death liberated many. Poignant and reflective. 💜

[Neville]

I am truly honoured you were able to see and to feel it my way our Chris .. Thanks a million .. No, thanks at least six million 💜

[Lorry]

I am no stranger to that backhanded compliment of "no you don't look out, just tired and dishevelled and certainly not young!" 😀
And yes, Cafe alchemia does smell nice, despite the fact I've never been but it is just after 7 ayem here and a nice coffee and pastry would go down a treat right about now. Plus its kinda like im almost there if I can almost smell it, is it not? 😀

[Neville]

I dunno Loz but reviews like yours just can't be sniffed at .. they need to be savoured and cherished and lots of other things besides .. Cheers mate, luv ya like a fat kid luvs cake .. Neville 😎🐧..🐧👍xx

[Jansy]

This is immersive.... The streets, the café, the apartment.... alive with memory, worn textures, and lingering voices. I can almost feel the cold, the quilt, the wallpaper under my fingertips. There’s a quiet ache beneath the sprawling detail, a lived-in sense of time folding over itself, and it lingers long after the last line.

[Neville]

I am honoured .. no, I am beyond that even .. Cheers & all that jazz .. Neville 😎👍
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I am honoured .. no, I am beyond that even .. Cheers & all that jazz .. Neville 😎👍