Ghost Town (part 2)

Ghost town (part 2)

               

Bags of rubbish block doorways

Naked dummies mock displays

Boutiques in administration

Prior to permanent termination

Vacant signs stuck on doors

Of banks and chain department stores

Metal shutters coming down

On every other shop in town

In amongst the rubbish bags

Redundant workers dressed in rags

Unwanted adolescents

Zero-hour-contract dependents

Manic souls in numbers countless

Jobless hopeless helpless houseless

Down-trodden disrespected

Used abused burnt-out rejected

Spectres in a ghostly play

Many from a bygone day

Occasionally catch the eye          

Of other people passing by        

Some stay silent others talk

Most but very rarely walk

Beyond the confines of the spot

Where day and night they spend their lot

I passed them as I walked along

Reminded of an eighties song

One indignantly composed         

That told of nightclubs being closed

Walking home empty-handed

Haunted thoughts occurred expanded

Led me to a different time

Before smartphones and Amazon Prime

And finally a lamentation

A tribute a dedication

To traders on the high street

In empty stores that can’t compete

This town is a wilting flower

Wetherspoons Paddy Power

Aldi and Lidl are doing fine

Everything else is in decline

This town is one of recession

Debt redundancy depression  

Future prospects in a mess

Homeless damsels in distress

Empty husbands empty wives  

Empty pockets empty lives

Food banks running out of food

DWP staff being rude

This town is a dying show

A sale where everything must go

Selling costing lesser still

With no-one paid to work a till

Online trading on the cheap

Shops forever put to sleep

Metal shutters staying down

This town

Is coming like a ghost town