The War Is Over (Not)

The city I grew up in!

Rusted metal,

battered prams,

bits of bikes,

shells of abandoned

cars,

an old threadbare sofa,

a stained mattress.

All sit heaped

on waste ground

where shells

of tenements

rise in steadfast

sandstone sadness,

but are still

homes to the poor.

Broken glass,

discarded clothing,

bits of wire,

rope,

old torn newspaper

all scattered across

these fertile playgrounds

for deprived

Glasgow kids

as they make believe

they have

lives to live

beyond the barricades.

It's not Belfast

but it may as well be

as sectarian threats,

intimidation

and violence

stain the long

summer days

and cold winter nights.

Gratuitous violence

marks this place out

as a wilderness

where wild west

values hold sway

and 'Tongs Ya Bass'

is the ruling class!

The icy steel chiv

marking the cheeks

of many, leaving

in its tracks deep

thick pink scars,

trophies of life

on the mean streets.

Washing lines

and shopping lines

and lines of unemployed

men full of whisky

mix in toxic confusion

as abandoned,

zombie people

place their faith

in priests,

the bottle

and the red politics

of post war times.

And life simply goes on

from brew payout

to pub and bookie

to the next brew day

in a grim, grey, dreich

city without hope.

Fish and chip Friday

and  a pilgrimage

to Celtic Park

on Saturday

to worship at the altar

of faith.

Here there is no tomorrow

only today,

and that is nothing

to write home about.

 

15/08/19

Author's Note

Reviews

[Eilis]

What a bleak portrait, John. Is this a snapshot of the past or a current reality? I studied the Troubles a fair bit in grad school, so I have a passable understanding of the Irish politics. Does Scotland have a similar problem? I’m always curious to learn about the real culture and people in a place.

The portrait you’ve offered reminds me of my native area too. A lot of poverty and people going on for generations with the same inadequate resources but still scraping by. I’m sure these communities are everywhere. How we change that reality is extremely complex and probably next to impossible considering all that would need to change for that to happen.

I found this stirring. I hate to imagine these kinds of things. Just the psychic pressure people are under and what that leads them to do.

Strong work.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Indeed it was bleak at one level. I am working on a piece that tells the tale of the other side of the same coin. Yes we had the troubles in Scotland and in Glasgow in particular. My father was a staunch Scottish nationalist Catholic who was once involved in gun running for the IRA. We didn't have the bombs but we had the great divide between the wealthier protestant community and the poor catholic community. We also saw violence committed along sectarian lines. And yes it is still like that. You can take the people out of the Gorbals and Blackhill but you can't take the Gorbals or Blackhill out of the people.

[Chris Shaw]

I have visited Edinburgh but not Glasgow. When I looked at your posted video I was reminded of Liverpool, the first time my husband took me home to meet family in the late seventies. Much of it was similar. You have really captured the essence of deprivation, poverty and no hope so well John in this excellent portrayal. I thank my lucky stars that although coming from poor working class roots, I was not subjected to filth and violence and worse of all, no hope. Great stuff.

Chris

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Thank you Chris. I was brought up in a very deprived area but there were worse off folk all around us and my father was a hard working honest man so we were fed and looked after. I did often go to school with holes in my trousers etc though. I saw some violence and knew some bad people. As I told Jacob the film 'We Man' was about my brother's best friend and all of the drama happened within metres and half a mile from our house, including the murder of Arthur Thompson's mother in law by a bomb under his car.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is an amazing poem John...obviously i have never been there...but you made this universal enough...this describes post 50's Bronx, after we left to come to Illinois....it became just like a war zone, even our neighborhood...and when i was only 6 or 7...i walked several blocks to school on my own....played in the park across the street on my own...no worries...
it changed into what you described almost to a tee.
j.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Thank you so much Jacob. I remember it vividly and it was a strange time. There is even a movie about it called 'Wee Man' and this all happened within yards of our home.