
GLASGOW
A Poem
Unfinished
Are we racing to the brink of an abyss, or are we just gathering speed for a take-off to a wonderful future? The crystal ball is clouded, the human condition baffles all the more because it is both unprecedented and bizarre, almost beyond understanding.
E.O. Wilson (1929 – 2021)
Train to Glasgow Central delayed
due to an object caught in overhead electric wires
– ‘object’ or person
inconvenience or tragedy
MIND THE GAP
sun plummets through a filleted glass roof
where do I start
where end
Hope Street
use caution: walking directions may not always reflect real-world conditions
she tells me she borrowed her sister’s jacket
stitched on the back in white and black
WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES LAW
RESISTANCE BECOMES DUTY
we plant prayers on lollysticks
sow seeds of calendula
I follow the ‘Coat of Hopes’ women walking through the city
the piper in his swishy kilt leading the grey-suited out-of-tune world leaders
two old men in the chip shop facing the wall to pray
more police than I’ve ever seen
whole squadrons encased in black rubber
join the raggle taggle carnival
but hi-vis spiked metal
you can’t come in here
and so we are divided, ruled
go slowly all the way round the outside
where all the little solar-powered suns shine:
END THE OIL AGE
SALVAGE PARADISE
NOW WE MUST LIVE IN
THE GRACE OF THE SUN
Tom Goldtooth – he’s heard it all before
wants humanity to learn earth
is sacred
keep fossil fuels in the ground
Potus and PoW, Boris and Bezos
flown in by private jet
Africa and Bolivia dropped off the agenda
the bravado of first pledges condenses
evaporates
mist
inside and outside
we should we must
who says we will
today
not in three decades
how will the next ten years succeed
when the last sixty years has failed
a praxis
place-based wisdom
I’m a Glaswegian and I’m proud of my city
rhetoric alliterates
decolonise, democratise, detoxify, decentralise, diversify
not the cost of workers but the value of workers
not building a wall but making a brick
it’s the kids’ placards that make me hurt
protect our planet
save our oceans
I don’t want to live on a spaceship
crossing the flyover
untethered
what if I jumped
the French woman in beautiful boots
meeting her son for lunch
all our beautiful sons
their rackety futures
their unborn children
the things we most fear (and therefore deny)
the things we most need (and therefore deny)
what if we started listening to our dreams
to our children’s dreams
and I said to myself
what a wonderful world
– join in he says
everyone join in
trying to make business with the Amazon
without taking into account the rights of the Amazon
so much greenwash
if I could plant a tree
for every time I hear someone utter that word
drummers march us into battle
the snare in my solar plexus
makes me want to cry
and laugh and cry and dance
if you’re happy it’s easy to be happy
if you’re sad it’s harder
sings Liam the worldwide Welshman
without words I don’t know who I am
or what I’m for
every day this is not to be forgotten
every day honour the Palauan minister:
either we drown in words
or we drown
bottleneck, hoodwink
the truth neither interesting nor appealing
everyone looks at their phones
while she’s talking
most people ignore climate change talk
because most climate change talk
ignores most people
8 FOOT LONG LOCH NESS DEBT MONSTER ARRESTED
#freenessie
how to live on $5.50 a day
while we only pay one-fifteenth of what we owe
LOSS & DAMAGE
a game of dominoes
not everyone can play
join the dots
stakes too high
rules impenetrable
outside Buchanan Galleries
the lone ranger and his megaphone
either the time we took hold of the reins
or the time we let the horses run wild
tearfully, truthfully, tenderly
a young lad on the bus
can’t stop talking
scavenged by chemicals
later outside Greggs
with one of their paper cups
begging
police bussed in from the Met, Essex, Devon, Norfolk, Wales
line up for team photos
buy postcards to send home
go back each night to their Premier Inns
I carry a card
in case I’m arrested
Human Rights Act 1998
in line with Cadder v HM Advocate Criminal Procedure
(Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010)
DO NOT ENGAGE
Remain silent
over 100,000 souls
a two mile long river
I hear
your here‘s different
she’s talking about my hair
time
achilles heels
all wounds
MIND THE GAP
government by PR by press conference
hypocrisy hypothesis
diversionary tactics carbon capture, hydrogen
HS2
Cambo, Cumbria, Mozambique
bitter wisps
of autumn
all human
KEEP 1.5 ALIVE
rhymes lodge inside us
blocking our airways
inside out briefing every morning
outside in briefing every evening
Jess sings us a love song for the apocalypse
someone pretending to be a policeman clambers into my dreams
I wake up paralysed, ache all over
why are your words so pedestrian
because they are made out of walking
from the Kelvin to the Clyde
walking
this is what it feels like embarking on a task and not knowing what to do
painting the world pictures by which we live
word pictures
thinned to slogans
I! I! a terrible thing
run from it if you can
there is no one
we are everyone
now and tomorrow
tomorrow’s tomorrow
start with your body – then your home –
then the land around you
your community – the world
make a spiral
we say these things to remind us
losing our so-called freedom
not knowing if we succeed or fail
who will tell you what is right
how to have no regrets
let your breath be a refuge
plant a garden
hold language dear
farm the city
a forest of sentient beings
say this to remind yourself
(is remembering too a kind of hoarding
when do you decide to leave everything behind)
MIND THE GAP
the train’s too full
a reduced service
how long will it take
who knows where
beyond recognition
we will find ourselves