vertical vantage

vertical vantage

10:09:09

there's a low down din

of an air-stream tin

wafting in from an arm of quay


there's a line of light

stretching out into the night

on the banks of the MSC


there's a silhouette lark

there's a stray dog bark

all the streets are bereft of man


from the jetsam brink

there's an age-old stink

drifting up off the "ol' ship can' "


there's a dapple-drawn hum

there's a faint bass drum

there's a shrill strangulated scream


the water up ahead

glows a deep blood red

no doubt from a brakelight beam


flicker motion is rife

in the yellow cubes of life

that constitute the urban maze


and the blinds get drawn

and the buildings yawn

and shrink to the end of days


this world is mine

lurid after-dark shrine

top down from my visible perch


Mancunian miles

of prim roof tiles

laid out like the pews in church


(copyright)

g knapton