richard barrett

from

a big apple

from A Big Apple

[…]

wait here and i’ll be back soon with the keysor if you leave now i’ll meet you by the bus-stoppast reception with the flashing displaythere’s a strong smell of bleach wrinkling facesa pennant is blowing and it welcomes peopleto Manchester up the Piccadilly approachif i ever see this view again i’ll never see it quite how i do today with everyone’s warm smilesthat’s right something has been lost but what exactlyi don’t know

[…]

there is silence until graffiti gets calleda ‘bespoke feature’ shaking languagei love you – will you marry me maybe live with me on this hill behind the townby loyalty cards and point schemesthe shape taken by our leisure is determinedwe’re working towards something we decidehaving unintentionally sat down next to Bobthe menu taken and another table chosenoften i don’t want to talk and anyway i couldn’twith the wind rattling each letter box along the linesaying apologies are owed because of themchoosing to deny we thought it was a good ideato argue with the logic of the market

[…]

as before a memento-moriunspooled tape keeping us bound in placeto these burst chairs which spew and sweattoday (is this what passes for advice?) cautionary thinking also about methods ofdomestic hygiene and what was implied by themre ‘the times’ we were living in as opposedto those times we now live inand i’m sorry that there is not much to seebut a complete evisceration has taken placeliteral as well as in that other sensethe courtyard piled with concreteand one great gust and everything will be downdo you call yourself a young urban professional?