The City I Grew Up In

We grew up in flats
with too many stairs to the top,
and yet I ran up them, brave
and unafraid, more
scared of the piss-scented lift
that always stopped
between floors.

Accompanied by the roar
of traffic speeding along
London Road, I’d pick my way
between parked cars,
where dads smoked,
and mums called kids in to tea
from balconies on the upper floors.

Plimsolled feet gripped
metal bars; we climbed
the padlocked gate
and leaped into a place
that was fresh and new,
the playing field that rescued
us from the top floor.

As teenagers, we grew into
the sounds of London:
the backing track of traffic and sirens;
buses pulsing like blood through
the veins of the city;
the Underground rumbling
below our feet.

As young adults, we walked home
in a blur of street lights and neon signs,
passing office workers and shoppers,
homeless people in shop door-ways,
always a frisson of danger
while waiting for the bus,
black cabs circling like sharks.

Kim M. Russell, 16th January 2024

Image by Adam Birkett on Unsplash

Punam is our host for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub this Tuesday, with a city love prompt. She says that cities have been described as ‘concrete jungles or human zoos … And yet, when poets write on their surroundings they usually prefer to write about the countryside.’ However, ‘there are poems about cities … that capture urban life’s complexities, diversity and vibrancy. The bright lights, the bustling streets and the entire spectrum of experiences found within these urban landscapes have been the muse of many poets.’ She has given examples by Robert Browning, William Blake, T.S. Eliot and Jamaal May to whet our poetic whistles.

Love them or hate them, for today’s Poetics, Punam would like us to write poems showing the beauty of our cities or why we love the city we live in presently or in the past. We should take our readers on a tour of our cities and make them fall in love with them.

I have written before about the cities I have lived in and now I live in the country I only visit the fine city of Norwich occasionally. I revisited the poems I wrote about London, where I grew up, and decided to blend a few together to create something new.

50 thoughts on “The City I Grew Up In”

  13. Kim, your poem beautifully encapsulates the journey of growing up in the city — from the challenges of flats to the liberating escape to the playing field and the nuanced experiences of London life. So vivid!

    ~David

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  15. I was a student in London and only saw those flats from the bus, but they were probably the same as Quarry Hill in Leeds, and Hume in Manchester. It’s the city that changes, and London has a character, even in the unphotogenic places like the one you grew up in. Your childhood memories are so vivid, and the plimsolls! They marked a generation.

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  19. I remember when it was easy to tear up stairs. I’ve been to London one time, years ago. Speaker’s Corner stands out in my mind. Love LOVE the image of that last line…”Black cabs circling like sharks.” Bravo.

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  24. We lived in Hackney when my children were small, and even though we did not live in a flat, your photo and words bring back so many memories. we too only took the stairs

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