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
