Going Home by Aiko Harman

Title: Going Home
Author: Aiko Harman
Number: 16/100
Allocated postcode: EH3

Going Home

A man in the nook
of a tenement door sucks
at the dregs of a cigarette
like a soda straw.

A pack of three in tracksuits
tramp in unison behind
the steel lead of a breedless dog,
slurring dialect.

A child with blond curls huffs
her mouth against the glass window
of a tanning salon, exposing
epiglottis to all of Midlothian.

In yellow holographic jackets,
the road workers reflect
in the windows of sandwich shops
over hot paninis and coffee.

A black taxi drops his occupant
kerbside beside the same man
always on the corner shouting,
“Buy the Big Issue”.

Film by Glasgow based artist Jerry Dowd.