Manchester Arndale
At a Glance
- • A Saturday-afternoon poem set in the Manchester Arndale, written without sentiment: phones, screaming kids, a man asleep by the cashpoint, a thousand lives in one bad building.
- • Author: Gemma Bright
- • Form: Free verse, four unrhymed stanzas
- • Setting: The Manchester Arndale shopping centre
- • Published: Tales From A Harrogate Caravan
Saturday afternoon. Everyone looks pissed.
Some are skint, some are wired, some just stink.
Kids scream. Old people block the lifts.
Everyone's in the way. Everyone's a prick.
Phones out. Heads down. Buy something. Eat.
Pretend the day isn't completely dead.
A bloke's asleep beside the cashpoint.
Nobody looks. Nobody gives a shit.
Security watches. Someone's nicked a coat.
Someone's begging. Someone's selling something.
A baby screams above the food-court noise.
A thousand lives jammed into one bad building.
I stand there and hate the whole fucking lot—
Then hate myself for standing there as well.
About Gemma Bright
Gemma Bright writes about the people nobody photographs and the places nobody pretends to like. She is not sentimental about cities, crowds, or the small cruelties people commit on each other in public. She has no image, no patience, and no interest in being liked by the people she describes.
Reader Comments
Leave a Comment or a Book Review
We would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, or even a complete book review.