Monumental Mistakes

Narrative verse

 

Monumental mistakes.

 

Boiled cabbage, stale urine and cats.

Drab concrete corridors and stairs.

My memories of high rise flats.

That seemed to spring up everywhere.

 

These hideous monstrosities.

Designed by modern architects.

Like symptoms of some foul disease

They had unwanted side effects.

 

Designed to house the multitudes.

Desperate for some place to stay.
most councils took the attitude.

That high rise flats were here to stay.

 

Though time has proved them incorrect.

Nobody wants to occupy

A space which they cannot protect.

Where social rules do not apply.

 

Most people value privacy.

So they prefer a dwelling place.

Which has a defined boundary?

Which demarcates their private space?

 

These stark reminders of the past.

Unloved unwanted monuments.

Although they had been built to last.

Another failed experiment.

 

The architects misunderstood

basic human psychology.

They saw no reason people should

 not live in close proximity.

 

The high rise flats rejected by

the people they were meant to serve.

Will be torn down eventually

A fate I think they well deserve.

 

They stand abandoned to decay.

Not worth the cost of maintenance.

The great mistakes of yesterday.

Which never really stood a chance.

 

Their ugliness beyond belief.

Soul less concrete monstrosities.

Some still stand in high relief.

Blighting the skylines of cities.

 

Human beings were not meant

  to live in hives communally.

So they expressed their discontent.

Rejecting universally.

 

The high rise flats unsuited to

the way of life they wished to live.

They had a very different view.

on living in a concrete hive.

 

The flats were built at great expense

 but soon became white elephants

The hatred of them was intense.

They did not meet the peoples wants.

 

Boiled cabbage, stale urine and cats

Drab concrete corridors and stairs.

My memories of the high rise flats

Now being torn down every where.

 

Thursday, 10 March 2011

http:// blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers

Reviews

[G. K. Bostic]

I've never been the UK so I haven't seen these highrises, but your description tells me that I haven't missed anything! Well written verse of memories.

[emmajoy]

The finest of metered verse to describe the sordidness of high rise flats .. you are so right about the awfulness in how it is to live in places like that. I did market research when i was a uni student, worked with someone interviewing people for the local council .. the things said almost twelve years ago weren't kind, they'd be a darned sight worse now. And those smells are just as it was.

You write with an amazingly aware attitude to life, guess influenced by your past work and reason for doing it. It's always a pleasure to read your posts, whatever the theme.

[Lena M. P.]

My sentiments exactly! Phew! Noisy, stinky, uncomfortable. Nicely written. Conveys your feelings perfectly.