The street teemed with people

The street teemed with people

Looking for relief

A cooling balm

Lathered as they were

Sticky with sweat and sunscreen

Temperatures raised

Beyond the point of breaking.

Confrontations occur over small things

Going toe to toe over the price of Ocra

Face to face with a stranger

Nose to nose

Striding away in a hurry to reach the shade

Neck and neck with a young mother

Her baby swaddled against her chest

People standing side by side

Cheek by jowl

Under a canvas awning

An overhang, a two-hundred-year-old

Relic of Whitechapel’s history

Old taverns, the haunt of old Jack

The poor law and the ghost of poverty

Still hanging in the air

As steam heat rises.

It is always the poor who suffer most

Flocking together for comfort

Looking for an electric fan

When they are all sold out

Standing in shop doorways

Beneath the air-conditioning unit

The curtain of cold air

At the entrance of supermarkets

Spending an age in the freezer aisle

Holding a bag of frozen peas

Against the skin

Fighting the urge to climb right in

Going home to a sauna

Temperature regulation

A constant feature for the elderly

Dying alone in a hot house

Even as giant Sunflowers scrape the sky

The smell of decay

Is as high as anyone would care for

Even in extremis

There should be a modicum

Of consideration.