Two poems featured in Voices for Change (Fantastic Books Publishing, July 2020), compiled as part of the It's our city Sheffield campaign.
www.itsoursheffield.co.uk/
www.itsoursheffield.co.uk/
Maureen and the machines
Maureen hated the machines
that beeped and the automated ever-pleasant
lady and the red flashing light when an alcohol purchase
was taking place and the spatter of loose change and the backs of heads
and no receipts because the machines were taking over as far as she could see and behind her counter
she felt quite forgotten and sometimes lonely and spent
a considerable portion of her shift pushing dust
along the edges of her till.
Maureen hated the machines
that beeped and the automated ever-pleasant
lady and the red flashing light when an alcohol purchase
was taking place and the spatter of loose change and the backs of heads
and no receipts because the machines were taking over as far as she could see and behind her counter
she felt quite forgotten and sometimes lonely and spent
a considerable portion of her shift pushing dust
along the edges of her till.
We are Sheffield
Did you hear me when
The roads were being dug up
When the pneumatic drills sang
When the wrecking balls swung into concrete
To rearrange our city centre
Like it was just a show home?
Did you hear me when
I conquered the seven hills
When I was wild with victory
When I found love in the valleys
Overcome by the green goodness of it all?
Will you hear me when
A single tree falls
When I stumble on the road and into a pothole
When my streetlight goes out
When the bus doesn’t show
And I am left at the mercy of the Shiregreen wind
And the Birley rain?
Do you wonder why
I keep asking the question?
You need to know that for every one of me
There’s another on the next street
On the next seat
Thinking what I’m thinking
Speaking what I’m speaking
The voice you’re hearing
Is not mine
It’s ours
And we are saying something unambiguous
To the smooth surfaces
To the strong leaders
To the cracked pavements, smashed shelters
Rubble and rusting girders
To those who say they speak for us
We are the wasted talent
The bottom up
Half a million thinkers, talkers, workers
The wall breakers
We are the goodwill
The heartbeat
We are the city
We are Sheffield
Did you hear me when
The roads were being dug up
When the pneumatic drills sang
When the wrecking balls swung into concrete
To rearrange our city centre
Like it was just a show home?
Did you hear me when
I conquered the seven hills
When I was wild with victory
When I found love in the valleys
Overcome by the green goodness of it all?
Will you hear me when
A single tree falls
When I stumble on the road and into a pothole
When my streetlight goes out
When the bus doesn’t show
And I am left at the mercy of the Shiregreen wind
And the Birley rain?
Do you wonder why
I keep asking the question?
You need to know that for every one of me
There’s another on the next street
On the next seat
Thinking what I’m thinking
Speaking what I’m speaking
The voice you’re hearing
Is not mine
It’s ours
And we are saying something unambiguous
To the smooth surfaces
To the strong leaders
To the cracked pavements, smashed shelters
Rubble and rusting girders
To those who say they speak for us
We are the wasted talent
The bottom up
Half a million thinkers, talkers, workers
The wall breakers
We are the goodwill
The heartbeat
We are the city
We are Sheffield