Epiphany
What with tenement living
and one thing having lead to another
I began to wonder
What kind of noise
would a shopping trolley make
pushed down our stairwell?
Kwik Save produced a peach.
I wheel it round
past the offy
past La Cala
and quietly up the stair
to my landing at 2/R
where I
pause
as a kind cloud moves
somewhere behind stained glass
and lets in the lonely Western light
that only Glasgow has
that painters long for
that quenches the eye
like a handful of hill water
quenches a thirst
and
let go
as the sound of a single silver bullet
roars through my skull.
John Irvine studied things at Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, the RSAMD, Glasgow and The University of Edinburgh. His poems and short stories have been published, or are forthcoming in: Blinking Cursor, Essence, Open Mouse, Poetry Scotland, South and Streetcake Magazine, amongst others.