Township
You return to the township your family had dwelt in
for years. Years that brought changes
none would have imagined
even as house after house was closed up, doors locked,
keys trusted to neighbours who, in their turn,
did the same. So few left now
the language has withered away, the stories they told
have dissolved; there’s nothing to grasp
but the map, the web of relations
who lived in this place, gave some meaning and sense
to the stones. For that’s what remains:
four walls, if you’re lucky,
some rafters, a rotting of mortar and thatch, thresholds
you tread on, remembering those
that had dwelt here, and all
they recounted lifetimes ago, when you listened, a boy,
laid in store what no-one can take from you,
none can bring back to these stones.
Brian Johnstone
Brian Johnstone is a poet, writer and performer from Scotland whose work has appeared throughout the UK, in the Americas, Australasia and Europe. His poems have been translated into over a dozen languages and are included in the UK Poetry Archive website. He has published seven collections, most recently the pamphlet Juke Box Jeopardy (Red Squirrel Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Callum MacDonald Memorial Award 2019, and the full collection Dry Stone Work (Arc Publications, 2014). A further full collection, The Marks on the Map, is due out from Arc later in 2020. His memoir Double Exposure was published by Saraband in 2017. He is a founder and former Director of StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival where he now holds the position of Honorary President.
