Finding London
It slipped alone out of the shaded street,
Into the night-time of the park,
Awakened by dotted lights,
Illuminating the sleepy dark world,
Then treaded down to the stirring waters,
Where the drowsy perfume of
Heavily scented flowers,
Seeps through the warm atmosphere,
Hanging expectantly in wait.
As grasping at a knotted branch,
It heaved up into the network of thick boughs,
Ignoring the itching, stinging scratches,
Breeding from the rough green bark,
As the tall trunk emerged, unconstrained,
Out of the hazy, dreamy land,
To gaze round at the endless city rising...
A world alive with a myriad of bright pinpricks,
Holding tall the proud pinnacles of urban London,
Piercing the blackened, velvet heights
With every tallest landmark,
Uplifted by the city's heart below,
United in a never-ending rumble of operating life,
Together reaching up to the skies.
Mevlüde Akay, 16
If I lived in London
If I lived in London
Would I have to get up at 7:30 to go to school?
Would I have to learn French?
Would I get detention if I forgot my homework book?
Would I have to eat rotten school dinners?
Would I get homework every night?
Would I have to practise my recorder?
Would I go to the cinema at the weekend?
Would I play football and hurling with my mates?
Would I have to tidy my room?
OR
Would it be different if I lived in London
Hugh Simpson, 11
London Eye
London eye looks
Over the night sky
Noise at its peek
Doors shabby sheik
Orange dust on windowsill
Notting Hill
Leister Square
Offices, tower blocks, bare
Neat pruned bushes not for me
Drive through posh Chelsea
Off the tube at Canary Wharf
No Paddington Bears in "Tottenem norf"
Lonely hearts of London
Only care for work, need some funding
No care for the foxes in the garden
Ditch red squirrels for a fur cardigan
Or the ravens at the tower
Nice home for the people in power
Amy Magowan Green, 15
London
London is a place where people like to go,
Its fun, it's cool and exciting too
The museums, the places and land marks too
The national gallery is fun and Trafalgar square is historic
The underground is desolate and different
From any thing I've seen before except for Vegas
The streets are cramped with taxis and double-deckers too
Tramps and beggars run around the street in the underground too
London is a joyous place where people like to go
Hugh Simpson, 11
London: City of a Million Faces
In the city of a million faces
I walk the empty streets,
With barely room to move
Amongst so many people.
On the tube I sit alone
In an empty carriage,
Crushed by the unsmiling
Faces around me.
Boarding a crowded bus,
Surrounded by chatter
And blaring horns, my ears ache
With the endless silence.
Through the swollen ghost town
That never sleeps a wink
I return to my bedsit
To my microwave dinner for one.
Sarah Montague, 17
London: the Place To Be
London is the place to be
London, London come with me.
Weather is beautiful in the sky
In the spinning wheel London Eye.
Big Ben over the river chimes
A constant face in changing times.
A short walk then to Downing Street
A Prime Minister to meet and greet.
London famous for its theatres
Westend drama and film premieres
London, London the place to be
London, London beckons me.
Simon Forbes, 12
Lost in London
Look around and strain to see,
The disappearing backs
Repelling from your outstretched hand,
And then consumed by a tidal wave,
As rolling monsters thunder past
And wipe away all trace of recognition,
Swept up in the atmosphere that is -
Blaring horns drowning out
The hollering and wrenching cries
Choking on the thick air,
Heavy with the fumes of cars,
Amidst violent shoving, angry banging,
To and fro, and up and down,
A vibrant whirlwind of London life -
Inescapable.
A claustrophobic enmity,
Stifling down the chance of finding anything
Amongst the massing throng,
Trying to peel back layers
Of insensible movement,
While looking down,
The fickle hands of Big Ben,
Point in the wrong direction
The seconds that are running away.
Mevlüde Akay, 16
Rock on course 12 indeed!
30 different people,
all varying in age,
sit upon the summer grass,
hoping history will write their page.
The time has come to play our part;
to write the very first line
We took a risk to join this group,
but were paid back in kind.
Lights; music; drama,
the bright lights of the stage,
Day by day they roll on by,
in a blind and frenzied daze.
So many things to learn,
so much advice to heed,
But we'll all make it wait and see
ROCK ON COURSE 12 INDEED!
Joanne Simpson, 16
The Palladium
I've entered the finest,
Certainly not the cheapest,
Theatre of Dreams,
On different beams.
Music playing from a band,
Cockney Rebels take the stand.
Jam with The Jam with Sir Paul Weller,
You've got Billy C, Norma Wise and Spiller.
The Queen waves to Billy Dodd,
And sneers at that Welsh Sod.
Prince and company sneer along,
They hope for Elton, Your Song.
Carpeted hills of fragranced, red glory,
Sing opera to the final Third Storey.
Webber bows with his fellow Pussy Cats,
O'Brien danced with Time Warped Brats.
Men and women, boy and girl,
Tell a tale, sung to Fame, give a whirl.
Trumpet, joke, dance and song,
The Chinese acrobatics strike a gong.
Silence,
The curtains draw in,
All the claps,
The shouting,
The bawling,
The crying,
The laughing,
Its over,
Feelings now at Dover.
Feel so low, its all gone.
But next week,
Next week,
Will the scene be resurrected!
Connor Scullion, 16
"X Factor"
Grand daddy of them all,
Point to him and he will fall.
Mister Mister, the X factor`
Come board my batman tractor.
Buy my book, "Mean streets of Crystal Palace,"
If you are black, you'll never last.
And if you heard me crying,
Some toxic fool must be lying.
Toxic streets, a volcanic eruption,
Black suits, political corruption.
Choking cars, exhausting fumes,
New police service, more death looms.
Trains late, another taxi please,
Photo taken, tourists say cheese.
Graffiti art, red and blue,
Separation, London needs you.
Get from here to there,
To meet your favourite cockney girl.
To take a bus in self-confidence,
That every trouble is in past tense.
To avoid conflict at every turn,
Another attack- you'll never learn.
More than just love and hate,
The question is "Who will dictate?"
Amanda McAteer, 15
About the team
These poems were produced by the Belfast members as listed above. They were published by 24 Hour Museum website.
