Walking from Victoria to The Eagle Inn
I can't tell you the roads to take.
I don't know the compass points.
I would struggle to find it
on a map.
But I can tell you
how it feels to disembark at Victoria.
Gaze on the places on the tile map
by the exit.
Places you haven't been.
Haslington. Chorley. Goole.
And I can tell you of the smile
of the busker under the bridge
unwrapping his saxophone
as gently as he would unbundle
a child.
And I can tell you that to shelter
in the porch of the light shop
on the corner illuminates
this Manchester deluge
and takes you back to the simple joy
of hours of cricked-neck childhood
gazing up high in B & Q aisles.
And I can tell you
how the dark water of the Irwell
is joint beauty and menace
as you cross the border
into the city that is Salford.
Sarah L Dixon
Sarah L Dixon is based in Huddersfield, sometimes tours as The Quiet Compere, and has most recently published in the Play and Watch the Birdie anthologies (Beautiful Dragons) and Domestic Cherry. Her first book, 'The sky is cracked', was released by Half Moon Press in November 2017 and her book 'Adding wax patterns to Wednesday' was released by Three Drops Press in November 2018.
For more details see http://thequietcompere.co.uk/
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