Five Hundred Yards

An elderly couple sits down in the shade for a while.

They take the weight off their feet and watch the world go by.

His leg gently rests against her knee.

Years ago they walked La Croisette a small hand each between them.

A little girl lifted and swung every ten steps along the way.

Just ten minutes sat here and off again.

five hundred yards
of bonjours
an espresso
at Bar 72
and then home

Little Onion

Photograph: Paul Conneally, Cannes, 2016

Brutal Beauty - Lee Circle Car Park - Leicester

The brutalist rotunda double helix concrete Lee Circle car park in Leicester, is a beast of a building.

Today, in the late September sun, it purrs more than roars and takes on a kind of beauty that I haven't clocked before.

Only one of its spiral roadways, the Blue route, is now in operation and it is rarely full.

Drivers choose to park the other side of the city centre, nearer or even in, the modern Highcross shopping complex.

lengthening shadows

the pigeon's coo melds

with a car alarm

Paul Conneally

Leicester

2014

Jesus on Jarrom Street

three pints happy 

we leave The Font 

on Gateway Street

head towards 

The Sir Robert Peel

and turn right

against red bricks

behind a black spiked fence

hangs Jesus 

stadium bound

fans genuflect and

ask for a win

Paul Conneally

Leicester 2013

The photograph is St Andrew's Church, Jarrom Street, Leicester. The church was designed by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott who also designed London's St Pancras Station.

One Upright Arm

We move together along the disused railway track towards the top of the Swannington Incline.

"Don’t look the dog in the eyes. He don’t like it”

one upright arm
sustains the cheek
come walk with me
when things go wrong
there’s always the hedgerow

Paul Conneally 2011

From ‘Health Walk’ Paul Conneally with Nita Pearson ‘Whitwick to Swannington and Back’ May 2011

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Notes The line: 'one upright arm sustains the cheek’ is a fragment from “HOW RICH THAT FOREHEAD’S CALM EXPANSE” by William Wordsworth. Wordsworth tells us that the poem HOW RICH THAT FOREHEAD’S CALM EXPANSE was inspired by a print at Coleorton Hall, North West Leicestershire. Mrs Wordsworth’s impression was that HOW RICH THAT FOREHEAD’S CALM EXPANSE was also written at Coleorton Hall despite William’s note that it was written at Rydal Mount in the Lake District.