This engaging portrait by Alison Barr is of her father’s uncle who lived in Coatbridge and “after he came down from the cranes moved into one of the high-rise flats!”
The writer herself lives in Wigton and has just published her first collection of poems, Honey and Stone.
UNCLE JOHN
Studded boots chink on metal stairs,
one step after another, in constant rhythm.
At the top, by the railing, John pauses,
gazes at orange lights around the Clyde,
first slit of pink sun glinting to the East.
Door closed, he hangs up his bunnet
and takes the metal piece box
out of his World War I satchel.
He spoons tea and sugar
into a chipped enamel mug.
Steam curls rise in cold air.
All day, one hundred feet above the earth,
he waits for jobs to start,
reads westerns to while away the time.
Up in the cab, showdowns take place,
gun fights over ringletted, busty molls.
Saloon doors blim blam back and forth,
stetsoned cowboys join him for tea breaks.
When cargo loading starts John moves levers,
handles shaped to his hands, responsive.
He becomes the Man of the West,
high on his leather saddle, lasso held tight.
The crane judders, luffs, rumbles,
hook dangling over docklands.
At sixty, with forty years’ service,
he trudges to work as usual with no special plan.
In the afternoon he climbs down from the cab,
walks away and daunders home, leaving a copy
of Big Sky and True Grit on the worn vinyl seat.
“Yer early”, says his sister. “Aye” says John.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article