{"id":26627,"date":"2021-01-16T17:07:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T17:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=26627"},"modified":"2021-01-16T17:07:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T17:07:10","slug":"walking-the-1556-abingdon-bounds-a-draft-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=26627","title":{"rendered":"10 poems about Abingdon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a proposal for the 2021 blog project. I will post, on this blog, poems in the category ‘Poems About Abingdon<\/em>‘. They could be written by you or they could be poems we can get the rights to publish. You have until end of September. Some will go into a book of poems and pictures called ‘Ten Poems About Abingdon<\/em>‘. All rights will remain with the author. Send poems to backstreet60@gmail.com .<\/p>\n

Here to start us off is a verse I have been trying to write …<\/p>\n

\"Poems
\nWalking the 1556 Abingdon Bounds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eighty people and two mutts
\nmeet as planned on New Years\u2019 Day.
\nThe Town Crier swings his bell and cries,
\n‘God Bless the Queen! Hear ye!\u2019 \u2018Hear ye!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

The leader welcomes ‘one and all’
\nto walk the ancient Borough Bounds
\nwhere Mayor and Council once paraded
\nto know by heart their chartered lands.<\/p>\n

Refashioned as a two hour walk
\nto help us trim our growing waists –
\nfilled with turkey, bowls of nuts,
\nselection boxes, After Eights.<\/p>\n

Not long until we’re back at work \u2013
\ndown East St Helen Street we walk.
\nSome saunter, chatting, in the road
\nand regroup at St Helen\u2019s Wharf.<\/p>\n

The leader reads the Tudor route
\nand then a modern commentary
\n‘\u2026 from aforesaid Helen\u2019s Bridge \u2026
\nto the new promontory \u2026’<\/em><\/p>\n

Herding idlers to the Park
\nThe Town Crier rings and hails ‘The Queen!’<\/em>
\nAlbert\u2019s statue stands aloft \u2013
\ntaken young \u2013 what he has seen!<\/p>\n

We come across a boundary stone
\nwarn smooth and without date or number.
\nA New Year cry again resounds
\nAnd wakes the sleepers from their slumber.<\/p>\n

The town has broken all its bounds
\nwith modern houses, gardens, walls.
\nThe boundary stones are overgrown,
\nThe River Thames floods and sprawls.<\/p>\n

By the weir we cross the River
\nand note a boundary stone marked \u2018A\u2019 \u2013
\nused as a latch – for a gate,
\n‘What a shame!’<\/em> the people say.
\n\"Poems<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a proposal for the 2021 blog project. I will post, on this blog, poems in the category ‘Poems About Abingdon‘. They could be written by you or they could be poems we can get the rights to publish. You have until end of September. Some will go into a book of poems and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems-about-abingdon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}