Whoor of a City by Les Quinn

Les Quinn's "Whoor of a City: A Curmudgeon's Perspective." "Les Quinn's musings on the underbelly of Glasgow is full of wry observations and insightful images and thoughts. His vernacular is both populist and engaging and offers a window into the perptual madness of this city. Quinn makes his poetry both personal and sentimental but at the same time he treats much of his subject matter with the humourous disdain it deserves. If there exists a Glasgow Bukowski, then Quinn should be in the running." Essence Poetry Magazine

Sample poems from Whoor of a City: Visiting Hour New drip Fed into old veins. Cardboard vassals welcome: Spit Vomit Urine. False teeth Scream, From a container at your side; Your lips taking on the guise of a Dry Prune, (or to be more vulgar- A decrepit Vagina.) Orderlies of variable order, Coo and cluck, and outside the ward, glorified cleaners in starch blue feast on fancies and NHS tea, as the ward phone rings out Unanswered.

Glasgow Cross Summer                   Seagulls caw profanity. Winged bombs of white             To be picked out against a       Cobalt blue sky. The girl I’ve yet to meet;             The one I’ve yet to dream about.       I wonder if she too Thinks about this chump               Who can’t sleep at night Due to the seagulls               Mating cries.

© Ettrick Forest Press 2007   |   Last updated 18 January 2008