Business Girls - A poem by John Betjeman

John Betjeman - Business Girls

From the geyser ventilators
Autumn winds are blowing down
On a thousand business women
Having baths in Camden Town

Waste pipes chuckle into runnels,
Steam's escaping here and there,
Morning trains through Camden cutting
Shake the Crescent and the Square.

Early nip of changeful autumn,
Dahlias glimpsed through garden doors,
At the back precarious bathrooms
Jutting out from upper floors;

And behind their frail partitions
Business women lie and soak,
Seeing through the draughty skylight
Flying clouds and railway smoke.

Rest you there, poor unbelov'd ones,
Lap your loneliness in heat.
All too soon the tiny breakfast,
Trolley-bus and windy street!

Credit: Reprinted with the permission of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd

Added: on February 18th, 2006 at 5:13 PM | Viewed: 1966 times | Comments (3)

Business Girls - Comments and Information
Poet: John Betjeman Poem: Business Girls Comment 3 of 3, added on May 25th, 2006 at 12:04 PM. It's about prostitutes and their sex with lack of love. He's portraying it as a rather miserable situation to be in. I don't think it has anything to with actual business women. Just lonely ones who sell their bodies. me. from United Kingdom Comment 2 of 3, added on March 27th, 2006 at 4:53 AM. Yes. this poem is about my eternal love for laura Adam taylor from Canada Comment 1 of 3, added on February 18th, 2006 at 5:13 PM. Anyone who can remember guysers - those upright, cylindrical gas water heaters by Ascot of the 1950s - might imagine this poem to be about the past. Ironically, in these days when there are more single person households than ever before, it seems to have a prophetic quality that is not confined to gender. Behind the facade of modern lifestyles and expensive city dwellings remain the 'unloved' ones who's busy working lives conceal and deny the loneliness of their existence. Paul Cooper from United Kingdom More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Business Girls, has received 3 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by John Betjeman with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info
Business Girls Last read: 2008-07-20 04:13:44 Viewed 1966 times. Added on February 18th, 2006 at 5:13 PM.

Betjeman Info
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