Birmingham in early March

Jack The Lad’s ‘The Wurm’ will always now be associated

with driving into central Birmingham

It ended seconds before I had to turn off the CD player 

to concentrate in an unfamiliar city’s traffic

from central Sheffield the drive to there was accompanied 

by ‘Dancehall Sweethearts’

and 'The Old Straight Track'

records that will always satisfy and move

years ago, for the only time in my life

I had walked briefly in Birmingham 

a record fair, the Bullring and surrounding streets

were where my feet trod

that time we drove North to get there

this time we drove South West

I had no anticipation that we would stand in an upstairs room 

of a back to back 

and have our picture taken by the phone of our daughter 

in a wonderful celebration of cultures

that was the Dyche Studio

just after seeing street art

before that we had seen the tiny dam and geese

and my heart was moved by death at a table

In an exhibition I had not expected to see

where I was touched by a reliquary

after seeing 'Horror in the Modernist Block', 

the exhibition that we made a day's three hundred mile round trip to experience

after entering the gallery on the way to the exhibition

we had been more than delightedly surprised

by an entirely unexpected piece of audio art

And me being who I am

I felt the need to collaborate with the art