Small Town

Intro: up to 50 words (delete this text and enter your own)

Within a small circle four coffee shops,
six pubs, five take-aways,
one gambling parlour,
two charity shops. Houses crumbling
in paved gardens under nettles.
 
Solitary alcoholics smoking outside entrances,
teenagers huddled in corners behind the church.
People queue for fish and chips
with children and dogs on streets
that close in and go on with their day.
 
At night the never-ending barking
of distressed dogs, shadows
of errant cats slinking past,
the angry voices of drunks
in the early hours.
 
Dark windows, empty streets waiting
for the absent light to entangle the stars,
but to be blinded by the glare of street lamps,
that cruelly edges into bedrooms
interrupting sleep.