Walls

Her wishes and ashes
Took me to Newcastle

Cheap Bed and Breakfast
Opposite Westgate Bowling

Hadrian’s wall glimpsed
Between Sari and betting shops?

Over the hilltops
As green as fresh coriander

The white walls of Baltic...
“Is that the Get Carter car-park?”

We took a bus out to Ouseland
For an ale near Jesmond.

Old boys amongst students
Called up like my granddad

Could have brushed jackets with him
Back in the day

Coughing from volcano ash
Rather than coal dust

Our taxi passes the ruins
Of the Brown Ale factory

The walls are as thin as
The paper I write on

I hear you through them
Speaking to him