After Dannie Abse
that miscellany of lost things
a pint of Brains at Cardiff Arms Park
donkey rides at Porthcawl
tickets to the eisteddfod
Sully TB hospital Penarth
the lonely gum in Roath Park
planted in our dad’s memory
without approval
the pull to return
banished with the 50 foot tides
by the Cardiff Bay barrage
the stink of mud flats
speckled with boats
no more now the harbour’s neutered
gone with GKN’s steelworks at East Moors
along with most of the jobs in town
our dad’s first job post war
Sunday drives in the Vauxhall
windows fogged
the stench of the works and the docks
by Tiger Bay
that old family game who farted
now glass and shiny surfaces
flash boats moored in the bathtub
travellers moved on from their wasteland
all gone until the satellite map
closes on our Llanrumny street unvisited
and then the fence I remember running past
blurred as on my first day at school