We present an excerpt from The Oasis, the new collection from Scottish poet Charles Lang.
Pulsing with the energy of urban life, these poems traverse the gritty, playful and tender moments that shape our lives.
Whether reflecting on family, friendships or fleeting moments of euphoria, Lang offers an authentic snapshot of working-class lives, where beauty is found in both the mundane and the extraordinary; in the human and the more-than-human.
A sonorous celebration of language and place, The Oasis is a vivid ode to the city’s streets and stories, a testament to resilience and belonging.
From Glasgow Sonnets
i.
I don’t know if the city
still flourishes,
whether trees will ring
come spring. Dear Mungo,
oan the worst days
in winter, tenements still shiver
n people go ootside tae keep
the heat in. The cost
ae a coffee or a walk
I’d imagine. O streetlights!
A hive a wee neds hing aboot
the park efter school.
I remember wit it wis like
then it wisny. Or it is.
iii.
I know the city by its limits,
O Glaschu!
I see it in ma dreams
at dusk: the view fae the Cathkin Braes.
Light up Ardencraig,
light up Ballantay,
Machrie,
Queen’s Park,
the Kelvin.
Dear green place,
I come n go n go tae come back. I come back
fur yer every possibility.
v.
Here I go again,
doon alang the watter.
O shipbuildin!
Noo the banks belang
tae banks, jobs, economic growth.
A rat race is fur rats.
There will be no bevyin.
History hus everythin tae answer fur
n I make it up.
‘S e seo bàrdachd.
The city is endless. The days
won’t come tae a close.
Like money,
O how the river flows.
vi.
At Gordon Street, the tide
moves like clockwork.
Poor men sit empty by their cups.
Witnesses cast a shadow
er the day n the day
moves oan like that,
despite impendin destruction.
O look how the sun
comes up between
the passageway,
how a pigeon
begins tae wobble
then takes flight.
The Oasis is published by Skein Press - find out more here
