Renton Road Allotments Poem by Neil Leadbeater

Renton Road Allotments were on the other side of town
somewhere you'd never been to
but it conjured up the conviviality
of mixing with people from different cultures
who shared a passion for plants -
the Indian amid the still expanse of Exbury hybrid azaleas;
Jamaicans with their summer squashes
huggermugger with massed astilbes
ranged between the beans
and a small child
bad-mouthing belladonna
because his father had told him
it was the only fruit in the town grounds
of which he could not eat.