Love Letters to London

(photo (c) Dean Wright)

Yesterday, wearing my London Society hat and Paul Smith suit, I went to the awards for the Society’s “Love Letters to London” writing competition around the theme of ‘Recovery and Resilience’. We wanted to celebrate the capital and how, despite the knocks from covid, and from anti-London in government and the press, this is one of the greatest cities in the world.

There were 14 winners and runners-up from 450+ entries – poems, short stories, reminiscences. And you can discover more about them (and download the winners, or buy the book) here.

In the mean time, here’s a poem what I wrote that I slipped in to the competition. It scraped into the long list, but there was much, much more talent on offer.

"Wapping Stairs"

The tide comes in
The tide goes out
As it has done since before time

See the shoreline
Dark with mud
Desolate
Empty

Soon the river will rise
It will be full again

The tide comes in
The tide goes out