it is easier to be alone in the inner city
than i could have imagined/ hands in pockets/
i stick to industrial back streets/ grey
cobbled people live here/ chemically alive/
entire families glowing at night/ in their
living rooms/ i pass by terrace houses/ six
feet deep from where they sleep/ distressed/
i can almost feel the heat of inner city
substances upon their skin
it is easy to be alone in small spaces/ to
avoid residential areas/ to slip easily
into an industrial backdrop/ to be burnt alive
at midday/ sometimes my knees become hot/ my
nasal passages sting/ sometimes i cry in this
wind/ no-one is listening/ city isolation/ but
then a strange wind that moves through anything/
ruffles dark pants around my ankles/ tickles/
makes me easy within myself
it is easy to eat city chemicals/ to be peaceful
when alone/ the warm wind slips through corregated
iron/ opens unattended gates/ closes them behind
itself/ sends stray dogs nose first/ streaming
after scent/ sucks and blows huge old warehouses
alive again/ they talk to me/ i am independant/ i
could live here rent free/ with my dogs/ but
where could i store my record collection/ could
be lonely without them
living could be easy/ in our backyard tin shed/
with wind through cracks/ the crusty roughness of
factory dirt upon facial skin/ but spring is coming/
the scent of wind rushes me inwardly/ i follow the
wind through tin holes/ through to the blue cracks
of sky/ fiercely blue/ forever challanging me to
enter its space/ to follow its seasons/ away from
these city corridors/ where chemicals have eaten
me alive/ made me grey and anxious
it is easier to stay here/ but i do not care/ i am
a season of change/ nothing holds me to winter/ and
winter has been cold here/ bitterly cold/ yet i am
peaceful/ knowing wherever the wind goes beyond this
shed/ i will go too/ when i am ready/ to leave this
small tight city/ easier to be myself/ than to stay
here/ living in fear of my restlessness/ i move
through this city/ which is okay/ i will rush ahead/
nose first after scent/ my dogs will come with me
