the arsenal

I watch upper street on the telly

almost unrecognisable beneath

eruptions of red smoke

and the decades of new money

the arsenal

we are the arsenal

my lips say the words out loud

to the dog

impassive to my verbals

doesn’t care that I’m wearing

the twenty two away shirt

with xhaka on the back

from today in twenty six

back to

being on dad’s shoulders

in seventy one

marvelling at a bus with no roof

where there should be one

clear memory of us being

outside bellas

haberdashers

to this day wondering what

that word even meant

back now, declan

smiling up there on the screen

his hair still immaculate in the midst

of the chaos below

benjamin white

always resembling an extra

in a wham video

does something ridiculous

the lads laugh

sing that song again

I still wince at the newness

of north london forever

maybe it’ll grow on me

the arsenal

we are the arsenal