Do You Know the Way to Milton Keynes? by S.A. Greene

Louise thinks of Milton Keynes as home. It’s a shame

she’s never been there. Louise likes

straight lines, grids, streets labelled by letter and number. She dislikes

uncharted routes, illogical ornament, choices.

Soppy street-names like

Meadow Fields and Songbird Close

she especially despises:

they lie to her. There never are

meadows and songbirds.

One day Louise will land at her glass-and-concrete paradise,

step out of her convertible and

all the street letters and all the street numbers

will march towards her, in formations she can understand.

She’ll navigate her moments by the maps

they pace out in her head.

In Milton Keynes Louise will know exactly

which route to take, at what time of day;

and more importantly what to wear and what to say on her way

to wherever it is that’s the right place to go.

She’ll be safe. Once she’s gained these landmarks.

And maybe then she’ll sing outside the lines,

Maybe then kick through some grids.

In Milton Keynes Louise will feel her first smile. She’ll smile

as she sits astride the concrete cows and

she’ll ride those babies hard down the boulevards

and yee-hah! them up onto the wild wild roundabouts.

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S.A. Greene writes micro and flash and the odd (very odd) poem in Derbyshire, UK. Words in or about to be in Sledgehammer Lit., Ellipsis Zine, Flash Flood '21, Janus Lit. People's Vote winner in Retreat West May micro competition.