CRAWL TAKE TWO

The Lister Arms.
These licensed premises were built on part of the site of the West Yorkshire Road Car Company depot, demolished in the 1980s. They are named after the Lister Arms, which stood diagonally opposite, trading until 1989. The original inn opened in 1825 as the New Inn but it soon became known as the Lister Arms its first tenant, Joseph Lister.

Now an ubiquitous Wetherspoons, what more can I say!


TUESDAY AT WETHERSPOONS

All the men have comb-overs,
bellies like cakes just baked,
risen to roundness. The women tilt
on their chairs, laughter faked,

like mugs about to fall,
cheekbones sharp as sadness.
When the men stand together,
head for the bar like cattle,
I don’t understand

why a woman reaches across, unfolds
his napkin, arranges his knife and fork
to either side of his plate. They’re all
doing it, arranging, organising, all talk

stopped until the men, oblivious
return. My feet slide towards a man
with one hand between his thighs,
patience in his eyes who says you can

learn to love me, ketchup
on the hand that cups my chin,
ketchup around his mouth,
now hardening on my skin.

Kim Moore