Manchester V London
© Rommi Smith, BBC Artist in Residence for the Commonwealth Games 2002

Written after taking part in the live phone in talk show Late Night Currie on BBC Radio Live.

First performed on Mike Shaft’s Breakfast Show, BBC 2002, Monday 22nd July 2002.

He has a slack tongued
Measuring tape in his
Fingers and takes it out
To measure this City
With his own dimensions

He purports to delight discovering difference
But takes out his mirror to admire reflection
His states a question, which contains the answer

There is no point, or place
Of mentioning that he has
Advertently forgotten
To miss corners
And that his maths
Is a tricky combination
Of prejudice and calculation

This City is not London

It is not a bare-backed imitation
Of Big Smoke and pavement gold
And Whittington and Savile Row

There is no space within his measurement
For Lowry and Contact
Northern Quarter and Deansgate

There is no concept of
Soft rain on Canal Street
And moonlight on Oxford Road
And Hulme in the centre of summer heat

These are things he can never measure

This City is not London
This City is not London
This City is not London

Now there’s an answer