About a Wall
A long narrative poem about Byker, by Ellen Phethean and Byker people

I¹m going to tell you about a Wall
that stretches all the way
from Roman Times - that¹s 122 AD
to 2002, you and me
and on, into the future.
Parts of it are very old, parts of it are new
Hadrian¹s army fought over it,
the Council house people in it,
poets write about it, chava¹s graffiti on it.

You can¹t always see it
this line, this wall
but you can imagine or remember particular bricks;
each brick is someone¹s story,
or memory, a part of it,
and you know how bricks fall
get used again, in another bit of wall ?
That¹s how it is with stories.
Where mine ends, maybe yours begins
or I take a piece of his or hers
like choosing the right shape
I put it with a few others
and together we¹ve built
a whole new line.
It¹s a mysterious wall with a bloodthirsty history
it¹s a living wall, dirty and real,
it¹s contradictory, despairing and funny
a fictional wall that tells the truth.