Ellen Phethean
How to Get Lost in Your Own City
Start in Chinatown, listen to the old women
note that scent of savoury plums, dusty and sharp;
consider dragon lanterns and fortune crackers
labelled in Chinese but you pay in English money.
Don’t hesitate at William Hills, enter
the pall of cigarettes, the smell of men and paper
the language: multiples, perms, Yankee, Canadian
No-one speaks. No-one notices you, the only female there.
Try Brunswick Church, hidden behind Fenwicks
an arrow points Church Upstairs, you follow.
It’s locked. Sit and think about people who have gone
until a woman says, Excuse me, can I help you?
Finally, stand at a bus stop that is not yours
open a street map, look at the numbers
on the shelter, down at your map, up again.
Listen to the foreign voices. Realise they are Geordies:
ask for directions, get told, You don’t come from here.
Consult your watch. Let two buses go past.
Feel the corner of your eyes smart. Choose a direction.
Make a decision to go. Do not move.
Page(s) 7
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