Glasgow: Brilliant, Yet Flawed - Like Me
Poem with Images and Links about Glasgow, My Hometown.
Friendly, dirty
Friendly fire
From mouth
To the gut
Cultural mecca
Underprivileged hellhole
Stunning architecturally
Troubling socio-politically
Than what?
Falkirk? Paisley? Airdrie?
Not saying much
Glasgow excels in so many ways
Like everywhere,
fails in so many others
Best food, worst food
Best people, worst people
Friendliness, happiness, welcoming
Hard-edged, hateful, bigotry
Pretty skylines
Beautiful, but mucky river
Iconic shipbuilding yards
Towering structures
Towering Tenements
Nod to the past
Ugly low cost living
Poverty
Where you can't see the breadline
With a great sense of humour
The city changes
Modernisation
Regeneration?
Genetrification?
Doesn't clean the stink
Of the Bucky, blood, junk and urine
Broken needles, grimy silver foil
Circling the drains
With the joy, kindness, and love
When the sun goes down
Thriving shopping street
Sauchiehall Street
Becomes
A central point
of
Iniquity and
the
morally objectionable
Hope Street
Where hope struggles to survive
Four Corners
Where the drug dealers, sex traffickers
Dwell and thrive
The Barras have seen Better days
From dawn to dusk and back again
Through rain rain and occasional sunshine
People trying to do their best
People succeeding at their worst
Talented buskers, hoping for pennies and something
Homeless beggars, hoping for sympathy
Or money for a quick hit
Hard to "Let Glasgow Flourish"
When people struggle
Without food to nourish
The city of my heart
The city I love
Brilliant yet flawed
Just like me
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Note: I currently live in Paisley, but was born and raised and lived the first 21 years of my life in Glasgow. It is my hometown, it has its flaws, it has the things that make it amazing. This poem is dedicated to it, warts and all, touching on the good and the bad.
This is another poem, when I really should be working on other things.
Other things that I have not yet finished...
Like my Goldilocks retake for the Tales Retold Challenge, my Next Great [American] Novel Challenge, that primarily takes place in Glasgow, my BookClub Challenge about Trainspotting, and potentially The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, my Writers Challenge entry about my fragmented memories of my first proper writing on the TV Production course I was on when I was younger, and the hardest piece I've ever written thus far about the darkest period of my life that I am not proud of for the Chapters Challenge.
I hope you enjoyed the poem...here are a couple others if you want to read them:
You can also check out the rest of my work here.
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!
Streams and Scratches in My Mind coming soon!
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Comments (11)
Loved this! Such a great tribute to the city of your heart x And no city , man nor beast is without its flaws. It made me sad though, a ittle bit, Just how flawed we are as a society. How is possible that so much homelessness exists when there are do many derelict places that could be utilised. Anyway, I could go on forever. Great piece! 🤍
Great Piece! And I know how you feel about always having work to do on things that are not finished, yet here comes all these new words for NEW things that our writer's need to share compels us to! Old or new in this industry, nothing in all of time about it and us changes this one true fact about it all! LOL If we are truly writers, then write we must, no matter how much where this and how little time we have to get it all done! We write until we bust or die! :-) Good luck with finishing your other work too! Amen!
This is a great tribute, it sounds like you really have captured it all, top to bottom - the good, the bad and the ugly 😁
Not me reading 'Ugly low cost living' as 'Ugly cow lost living' 🤦♀️ Anyway, that was a wonderful tribute to your hometown, warts and all! I'm eagerly looking forward to reading your Goldilocks and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde! 🍩🥐
Thanks for sharing your home town with us! Via poetry!! 👏👏 I love Jekyll and Hyde. Wanted to do a mini critique. What’s your take? Cannot remember what the book club challenge is. I’ll probably not get around to it anyhow. Lots of intriguing pieces in the works! Go you!! Shall look forward to reading each of these.☺️
“Brilliant yet flawed Just like me” Killer ending. 👏🏼 I enjoyed this diversion, but OMG I hope you do finish all the projects you mentioned!
Sounds suspiciously like my own hometown...
Thank you for the tour, tribute & honesty, Paul.
What a tribute and life force. Your writing in this is vibrant and pulsing and really beautiful, containing so many experiences and describing a city that is clearly a million different things, most importantly a home. Really enjoyed this!
More of this from you, please.
After seeing Billy Conolly’s joke about the Glasgow Airport terrorists and John Smeaton I was watching these videos yesterday 🙈 Laughing at the subtitles for his Scottish English and his absolute Glasgow comedy message to terrorists thinking of coming to Glasgow… “Dinnae come here, we’ll set about ye”! It’s gold. As is your poem. Because you are right..it’s a land of extremes… of the great and the definitely not so ❤️✨