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poor rude lines your friendly poetry blog by john field 2023 t s eliot prize 2022 t s eliot prize 2021 t s eliot prize 2020 t s eliot prize 2019 t s eliot prize 2018 t s eliot prize 2017 t s eliot prize 2016 t s eliot prize about poor rude lines your friendly poetry blog by john field lust for life charles lang s the oasis 23 tuesday dec 2025 posted by johnfield1 in 2025 skein press leave a comment tags art books glasgow photography poem poems poetry review travel verse writing running heatmap of central norwich photo credit johnfield1 my three year old daughter accompanied me to john lewis though it would be more accurate to say that i accompanied her we d bought the new shoes whatever it was we needed and wandered the aisles for a while before she asked whether i was lost she told me not to worry took me by the hand and led me to the exit so you ll understand that when i relocated for work a few years ago i wondered how my new city would ever feel like home my superpower turned out to be running pounding the pavements by day and by night has helped me to internalise the city in a way that i would never have managed with a satnav and a handful of routes to supermarkets a scene from in the clutches of the gang a keystone cops silent comedy directed by george nichols and mack sennett left to right ford sterling on phone edgar kennedy george jeskey al st john hank mann rube miller and roscoe fatty arbuckle 1887 1933 photo credit hulton archive getty images charles lang s first collection the oasis opens with a bang with the chase aw it takes is a wee fuck the polis n a night ae excitement is on the chase navigatin side streets n gable ends hidin in bushes on a first reading i imagined irvine welsh s edinburgh as seen through danny boyle s eyes ewan mcgregor running from the police to iggy pop s punk rock lust for life but lang s speaker s bursting with joie de vivre this isn t a functional chase to fund a skag habit but a night ae excitement a full evening s entertainment and planned as such its impetus is a wee fuck the polis with the diminutive wee adding a childlike childish impish and endearing quality to the taunt it s not a crime at all if the taunt is wee then either the police are on a hair trigger their reaction grossly disproportionate or and i like to imagine this as more likely they are just as bored as the children and accept the opportunity for some excitement gratefully thrilling as it is this is a calculated chase the speaker and his pals are navigatin they map it was ease the school the wee shop the tree swing the bought hooses ma granny s hoose ma pal s aunty s hoose the lane the definite articles point to the microscopic size of this world a world with a single lane the poem is structured in couplets pointing to the weird intimacy between perp and polis but instead of a final couplet lang leaves us with a half line awright officers wit yees been up tae the night it demonstrates the speaker s power to pick up the polis and to put them down at will as an opening shot the chase pulses with life a couple of pages on and new shoes illustrates that the apparent freedom of the chase is strictly limited the speaker s mother presents him with a new pair of white lacoste trainers the rules ur as follows nae wearin them tae school nae climbin fences nae games a hidey it s exquisitely observed that the trainers cannot be be worn to school suggests that the omniscient ma knows only too well that for the sake of fashion and status her son would swap his trainers for his school shoes at the gate and whereas climbing trees evokes boy s own adventures the climbing of fences their urban equivalent has a different feel ma reels off her commandments nae nae nae with rhetorical polish omniscience and omnipotence in the chase the children enjoy the last word but here the son knows better than to open his mouth the m8 in glasgow looking towards the south photo credit craig duncan photography the final section glasgow sonnets rings a more sonorous melancholy note as it muses on glasgow past and present and brings me back to my heatmap of norwich navigating the m8 in central glasgow makes my palms sweat and raises my pulse on and off ramps are truncated vehicles enter and exit from both the left and the right congestion hides lane markings the lines on my heat map represent points of contact between feet and street they represent a deepening connection between person and place whereas lang visualises the m8 as a botched operation a false hope flyovers wance the future dissect the city n send it tae an early grave the air is thick with the modern embodiment of a pea souper n awready everybody hus forgotten aboot rosebank and our attention spans struggle to extend much beyond the current news cycle like lab rats we re going to root the inner outer circle in the dark like the denizens of dante s inferno lang s powers of observation are forensic and as a result his poems ring with truth and radiate warmth the oasis is an affectionate portrait of a city and its people but tackles division and confrontation head on buy the oasis from skein press share this share share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky share on threads opens in new window threads share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading previous articles richard scott that broke into shining crystals december 17 2025 sometimes books rewire the brain even as you read you know already that by the time you re done you ll be continue reading richard meier s after the miracle october 29 2025 broad street was in summer mode conga lines of language students sporting identical backpacks following the sign of the brolly continue reading in bloom bernard o donoghue s the anchorage july 3 2025 reading bernard o donoghue s farmers cross in 2012 it was the poem vocation that caught my eye the speaker considers a continue reading a fragile thing camille ralphs after you were i am february 21 2025 after a chance remark about george herbert the librarian pulled a small volume from the shelf leatherbound and plain scruffy continue reading penny boxall s the curiosities december 30 2024 i ve been never one for zoos but daily life offers the same anxieties visiting my mother in her gated compound continue reading fiona moore s okapi december 17 2024 robert macfarlane s landmarks is on my mind again on first reading i paid it scant attention but it s nagged continue reading the vortex hugo williams s fast music august 6 2024 although listening to music remains one of life s pleasures it does over time become complex territory to navigate it conjures continue reading woven song liane strauss s the flaws in the story may 30 2024 in a world of spoilers ignorance can be a superpower and so it was when i visited sir john soane s continue reading world in motion matthew stewart s whatever you do just don t december 21 2023 i was lent a copy of eduardo galeano s football in sun and shadow by a friend she attempted to convey continue reading older posts follow poor rude lines on wordpress com search search type your email subscribe read my reviews of each collection shortlisted for the t s eliot prize since 2016 click below follow me on instagram sundialmottoes and follow me on bluesky johnfield1 bsky social links claire booker josephine corcoran martyn crucifix robin houghton rogue strands roy marshall seren books unsuitable blog subscribe subscribed poor rude lines join 220 other subscribers sign me up already have a wordpress com account log in now privacy poor rude lines subscribe subscribed sign up log in report this content view site in reader 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