Mrs Moffat sold tomatoes,
Postal orders, ginger pop,
There was hardly any village –
But she ran the village shop,
‘Clouding over’, she would say.
‘Well we need a bit of rain,’
She had ten bob on the Derby
And the weather on the brain!
But she pottered and she prattled
And was something of a bore,
Yet we’re missing Mrs Moffat
At the supermarket store.
Now a wall of glass, illuminated
For spectacular display,
Has usurped her little window
Which has had its little day.
Where she beamed across the counter
Having done her best to cope,
You may saunter now in silence
Round a pyramid of soap.
Gone the prattle, gone the muddle,
Gone the tinkle at the door,
It’s all too superhuman
At the supermarket store.
Ah! The pastries and detergents
In extravagant supply –
You emerge with more than double
That you ever meant to buy.
Here’s exactly what you wanted,
So it hardly matters much
If the only missing item
Is the common human touch.
Not a syllable of gossip,
Not a murmur, nothing more,
I can’t help missing Mrs Moffat
At the supermarket store.
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1 - 5 of 5
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A delightful poem which reminde me of the poem Supermarket by the Yorkshire Dialect Poet Fred Brown.
A little wire basket -- Tempters on t'shelves --
It cums a bit cheaper when you help yourselves.
A packet o'biscuits -- A nahce fancy cake --
Fill up yer baskets! ther's noah need to bake.
Line up at t'counter -- They tot up yer score --
Yer've got what yer needed, an 'appens a bit more.
Ah remembered t'owd shop wi' its cleean sanded floor --
An' buckets an' brushes hung swingin' near't door.
Yer joined in wi t'gossip an monny a joake --
When whiskery auld Sam tipped yer flahr into t'poke.
Old Sam hed noa baskets, noa slick shiny till;
But noa chromium platin' could match Samuel's goodwill.
PS
Can't in the penultimate line of the poem seems fine to me.
Jim -
Norman Rockwell would have liked this very much. I can see the scene very well.
Wonderful!
A
for Mrs. Moffat
Paul -
Maybe the can't in the second to the last line is "ain't" and he's being ironic, but I somehow doubt it given the last line in the first stanza.
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Corrected now and thanks 'ea'. I typed this one out myself and my spell check didn't pick up the errors and neither did I
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Delightful memories of an era gone forever!
Von
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This is a surprising delight of a poem to find an dmakes me so glad I live in this part of the world where Wall*Mart has failed and you can still find the touch of a Mrs Moffat.
On another note, I think there may be something wrong with the second to the last line - the word "can't" just can't be right. Perhaps it's "am"?
There also needs to be a r on "ever" in the line "That you ever meant to buy."
Can AP please get rid of this blue bar with lines encapulating the poem's titles when you access them from the AP front page as the poem of the day? Thank you.
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