Living On Red Road (Poetry)

Here’s the local lads out on the piss once again
and there’s fighting halfway down the street
the shrill wail of a siren — a shout and a scream
then the drumming of tearaway feet

The lights are all smashed in the new underpass
and a phone box has been set on fire
but that’s pretty quiet for a Saturday night
when community spirit runs higher

It’s now ten after four and the gang’s scrapping still
so not one of us gets any sleep
what with yelling, dogs yapping, the odd crash or bang
but there’s none of us dare make a peep

It’s the drink and the drugs and the slow death of hope
with no honest employment as well
when they’re stuck on the dole so resentful and skint
it’s no wonder Red Road’s gone to hell

But it’s here we are living — for good or for bad
by misfortune or planning mistake
we are bound blood and bone to our towerblock home
while we wait for that one lucky break

Red Road was an infamous district of Glasgow comprising
a number of monumental highrise tower blocks housing between
four and five thousand people. Immortalized in the Bafta-winning
film 'Red Road' directed by Andrea Arnold these towers were declared
unsafe and have since been demolished.