Siren Says
By Lydia Beardmore
“I can tell you’re in London, love
by those sirens I hear from your window.”
My friend, I find them as easy to sleep through
as prayers,
and every time we talk on the phone
you mention it
your life, no city
not punctuated by emergency
and questions you don’t ask
shaped sounds
when I stay up all night
for whatever reason - waiting for light
perhaps
I can hear them slow down
almost stop
then bottles
shuffled footsteps,
angry lost souls
then calm
nothing not a pin drop, calm fog
then birds - just a couple and
not for long
a few beeps from the green man
then it starts again
people start to get hurt again.
*
Lydia Beardmore is writer and photographer currently based in London where she studies Anthropology of Travel, Tourism and Pilgrimage at SOAS. She lived in Istanbul for a number of years and considers it her true home. She has written for a variety of publications including ReOrient, Time Out Istanbul and Little White Lies and hosts spoken word events and creative writing workshops across Europe. She also runs a female focused travel writing blog which can be found at www.puddingshoppress.com