Regeneration (New Build Luxury Pomes)
Jon Stone

i. London, by William Blake

I wander thro’ each chartered street
Near where the chartered Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of lateral living space.

In every unique contemporary design,
In every bright dual-aspect reception,
In every private balcony and central location,
The mind-forg’d Rolexes I hear.

How the high-specification finish
Every sympathetically carved loft apartment boasts,
And the tranquil gated communal gardens
Are finished to an impeccable standard.

But most thro’ breathtaking statements
     of contemporary urban living
How this stunning warehouse conversion
     enviably located
     set around a European style public piazza
Blasts the heart of one of London's
     most vibrant and arty communities
And blights
And is an exciting beacon.

ii. City River Blues Dubstep, by Benjamin Zephaniah

Minnows glittered
in the river where I walked,
a spilled bag of silver.
Boats moved like slow javelins.

What was that fresh, sweet scent
when I lingered on the bank?
I would have to run an analysis.
But the river, the river is our blood,
bright and teeming.

Strategies were devised here.
Trade boomed, and industry
made us strong.

I walked by the river
looking for the spark.
The air was good value and the police presence reassuring.

iii. The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot

[ UNREAL PLAZA

A visionary new development coming to this page in April 2017.
It has begun to sprout! It will bloom next year!
A rich profusion of 1 and 2 stanza lyrics
with burnished thrones, prolonged candle flames
and footsteps shuffled on the stair.

Register your interest. ]

Jon Stone was born in Derby and lives in London. He is a commissioning editor at micro-press Sidekick Books, who published the UK’s first anthologies of video game poems and poetry comics, and who specialise in collaborative literature. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2012 and his first collection, School of Forgery (Salt, 2012), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.

Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter. Please include a short, third-person biography and author photo with all submissions: wveditor@gmail.com

Connect with Well Versed on Facebook.