Leeds

by John Unwin

a dream, recorded on waking

in a work environment
toxic hazard
nylon shirts and polyester suit
why am i here — just looking
hurried now
everything on edge
why? it’s all long gone
time moves colleagues are past tense
an office in Leeds

you should be somewhere else

so drinks
there is this place
not far we’ll cross the tracks
on a tour bus to dilapidation
but not Beeston Hill twat

you’re forgetting something

on the corroded road
wind whips litter
i know i need to be somewhere else — where
on the railway bridge
graffiti ‘crafted now’
am i crafted

down there come on
buildings nameless and faded
we criss we cross
there is no other way

you’re forgetting something

but drinks — it’s a cafe
it’s ‘meats’
they’re already ahead
keep up
hot fetid cabbage boiling
smell of stewing meat
rows of tables old wooden chairs and benches
plastic coverings

menu with pictures
Nothing to eat just slabs of black and grey
chops, beef, liver and kidney
chicken skewer,
nausea rising

you should be somewhere else

they went to the back — a squeeze
some woman is in front
boxed between a wall and table
get the drinks
no going back
no getting through

now the bar — how
i don’t want to be here
butterflies and churn
noise, odor and body sweat
their mouths move
i’ve lost the words
i need to be somewhere
not here — wake up