street

 Seen through the windscreen of a moving car,

This suburban street flashes past,

Lined with similar semi-detached,

Housing ordinary England

Not at all bizarre.

But walk its pavement,

Looking out for cracks,

Or protruding tree roots,

That might trip you in your tracks.

You might see a street stranger than it seemed.

Someone, maybe drunk or in a dream

Drove a vehicle through a front garden wall,

Almost crashed it into a front room.

Then did renegade scholar or maverick teacher

Decorate a grey metal electricity cabinet.

With a quotation from Frederich Nietzsche?

I read this with puzzlement

Then go on as best I can,

Past piles of soggy leaves,

As I am no superman.

A magpie cackles at me, so I retreat,

Through my front door

And off this strange street.