Wilderspool Causeway

Opting Out

There’s a different kind of freedom
when you opt out in faded Berghaus,
not carrying much over the bridge
as a train rattles over the viaduct
between stubble fields, lighting its way
like the end of your roll up.
You descend into a quiet neighbourhood,
perhaps heading to the allotments
with a radio tuned to football results
that are just a stream of numbers
providing vague reassurance of life
existing under storm clouds unleashing
outcomes of low pressure weather systems
from grey ghost husks over Forfar and Kinlochleven.