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Three poems by Neil Fulwood

Well Versed is edited by JODY PORTER

The Siege of Blidworth
(May 1984)

On the off-chance the residents
of a village that struck its colours
against the strike

would open their doors to pickets,
the boys from the Met have barricaded
Blidworth, laid siege

to a small cluster of streets. The bobby
folks taught their kids to respect
and obey is striding

around the burned-out car, all done up
in riot gear, and scenes on the news
from Northern Ireland

explode into kitchens and living rooms.

 

Orgreave

Thirty years later, the touchstone
is just as stark: like something
from the civil war. Strip away
the specifics that ground the scene
in 1984. Remove the backdrop
of the coking plant, the coal-heaped
shapes of tipper lorries. Make
a few minor adjustments to the uniforms.
What remains is a field in England
and men on horseback ploughing
into the ranks of men without shield
or armour, men who stood nonetheless.

 

The Long Dark Chucking-Out Time of the Soul

Last orders for redemption
and you were too busy
feeding your existentialism
into a slot machine
that promised a pay-out
in some gelded form.

You were rehearsing
that “stuff your job” speech
in the bathroom mirror,
projecting the boss’s face
onto the boxy reflection
of the condom machine.

You took too long sluicing
your hands under the tap,
soaping off the muck
of who you voted for last time
and what you said in anger
when someone called you out

on everything you deny.
The dryer breathed a pittance
of hot air then gave up.
You shrugged, went back in
and they were calling time
on second chances. Now

you’re lost and sobering up.
The city is not how it was.
Someone’s muted the volume,
detuned the geography.
Walls muscle in. Alleyways
lead back on themselves.

The cabs are driven by ghosts.
Your watch has stopped.
There are names and dates
in street signs and house numbers
that seem to mean something
you can’t remember. How many

wrong turns brought you here?

 

 

Neil Fulwood was born in Nottingham in 1972. He's the author of The Films of Sam Peckinpah. His poetry has appeared in Obsessed With Pipework, Nib, The Writers' Hub, Monkey Kettle, Nottingham Drinker and Ink, Sweat and Tears.

Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter – [email protected]
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