In Distant Rooms
By David Pike

The Noise Abatement Society
were late on arriving;
in truth one had reported sick,
another was skiving,
so the skeleton crew
had to make do with talking loudly
amongst themselves.

It was a bit of a washout really;
the sitars, drums and electric guitars
had been secreted away
on exclusive shelves
in distant rooms,
somewhere else.

“I don’t understand it,” said
an old lady with a hearing aid
whose vexed expression gave the impression
of greater things to come. “They’re not usually
so reticent at making a din
I’m sure something must have gone wrong?
Perhaps they’ve electrocuted themselves?”

But no noise was forthcoming
no crazy strumming, wah-wah, fuzz
or power-chords, in fact nothing at all
in an audible sense,
just silence.

So, true to form
the Noise Abatement Society
slipped quietly away
with nothing heard, no report
with nothing to say,
and one crestfallen individual
had forgotten his newspaper
and victuals,

and when the van was less than 100 yards away
the band blew
a decibel fusillade
which rocked
the rocking apartments.

David Pike, age 48, of Swindon, England, has edited/run Pulsar Poetry Magazine, UK, (quarterly) for approaching 9 years, (9 year in December 2003, to be precise). Pulsar is a 36 booklet containing poems/reviews from various contributors - poems are published on merit only. David Pike's published books include: Sentinel of the Row, 1992 (novel); On The Ridge, 1993 (poems) and A Cold Night For Norman, 1994 (short stories/poems). DP's CD's: Tow-path, 2002, (vocals/poems/guitar by David Pike); Evolution, 2003, (vocals/poems/guitar by David Pike). DP also organises regular 'live-microphone' poetry evenings at pubs in Wiltshire, UK. DP has two grown up daughters, Lynette and Jennifer. I'm divorced but have lived with my partner, Jill, for 10 years.