Travels in a drifting living room on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

Jim Ferguson (Creative Writing: University of Glasgow)

1

high wind, rain
rumbling traffic
the roar of the bus
people going places

moving across the city,
fitting into slots;
all sense of belonging rooted
firmly in the mind's buoyancy

trees sway and their tops
might fly away
but always they hold firm
against the wind

2

this is not a day
for tea at the ritz
or going to the races
for cosy drinks of whisky and beer

it is a domestic scene;
staying in, rooted, here,
ironing shirts for future wear
keeping appearances, taking care

this is not a day
for mild contemplation
of literary plans, or action
but a day, as often, for considering

the pseudo-liberals,
who will not spare the weight
of their police and military
to keep power in their hands

3

on discovering the fact that
i am the owner of certain foodstuffs
i feel a bit surprised at this surplus of wealth
enough food for seven days and ten until the giro?

answers on a milk coupon!
available from the department of social security,
should you have difficulty obtaining such a coupon
a postcard will suffice!

4

crawling across the hall carpet
towards the kitchen
is quite a journey, maybe
about ten yards in total

it's not so far
even after two days without food;
then how to reach the light switch
when you're on your knees?

answers on a postcard please!

5

having stared at trees and rain,
and other elements, that communing
with nature through the window,
listening to the city's sounds;

buses, cats, pigeons, rats,
cars, voices, sirens, bats,
seagulls, rain, and howling wind
the temptation is to forget

about the city's underbelly,
the secret deals and insurance fires
addicts, beggars, and burnt out bodies,
things falling from the back of lorries,

and the greasing of elected palms;
what is the estimated rat population of glasgow?
answers on a district council rent rebate form,
you may exclude the city chambers from your answer!

squeak, squeak, squeak,

6

these days much attention is paid
to tidying the city by uprooting trees,
of course
this does not trouble the urban proletariat

only the middle classes are interested in trees
or enjoy the fact that trees exist
trees are not even trade union members
and have scabbed on many disputes

real bastards those trees,
chop them down and improve the city;
nothing beats a good healthy motorway,
is carbon monoxide a very good gas?

answers on a recycled postcard please!

7

the city planners,
a mighty interesting bunch,
especially the labour members
of the planning committee

they are the stuff poetry is made of,
to be with them is to experience the poetry
of good administration and all-above-board dealings;
is this not true?

don't bother with an answer!

8

this country
a thistle, a ruin,
crumpled and thwarted
by rose and thorn

this place of sweat,
grime and swearing,
shouting, alcohol
and drugs, and the pride

of serving colonial masters
of ravaging the world
as we are ravaged, and the shame
of our forebears and contemporaries

taking the royal shilling

9

a cup of tea
is a great tonic
especially
if it's scottish blend

but as good internationalists
we understand the meaning
of the tea pot and the darkness
squirrelled within the spout;

where a plantation worker
is shouting in muffled tones
about a banana republic
and one-crop dependency

the values of decency and
fair play; the rules
which destroyed
the worker's words

language
ripped from the throat
butchered
in the name of christ

10

coal could well be wonderful
texture black and moody;
the digging of it dangerous
the geology quite treacherous

but this is no treachery
when compared to the british government
who are stitching a deal
for their wealthy friends

while making us pay
their nuclear tax;
they will scrap forty thousand jobs
they will sell us all

make private all of public life;
money is king
people are rubbish;
people are not worth mentioning?

answers on a postcard please!

11

the good sweet government
is keen to upset citizens
in the name of progress;
we live as happy and free subjects

of her majesty,
on this little island
of liberty and tolerance;
aren't you proud to be a british subject?

answers on a postcard please!

12

where to go in the world?
more difficult than it may seem;
inside fortress europe
democracy means money

freedom means a large amount;
to cross a border
is tolerable when profitable;
who would be a refugee?

answers on a postcard please!

13

to go to the post office
means going outside;
is it safe?

posting postcards
can be
precarious;

when feeling
fully at home
in the drifting

living room
of time; where
even in its solidity,

you can never
breathe the same oxygen
twice!

answers, care of heraclitus,
kingdom of the dead,
beyond the high wind and rumbling traffic.

eSharp issue: autumn 2004. © Jim Ferguson 2004. All rights reserved. ISSN 1742-4542.