Yorkshire Writers' Lunch

Changing flights at JFK airport in New York from London on route to Kingston Jamaica is not my favourite thing to do, but Delta and Virgin airlines have a relationship and had a super deal with Premium seats, so the inconvenience of an eight-hour layover 6 th to 7 th of June 2019, seemed worth it. I had it all figured out in my head that I would spend the night asleep in the lounge, but when I got there I was invited to look around and thought that for $70 there wasn’t that much on offer. The buffet looked tired, and people were lounging around on comfy chairs fair enough, but that was not what I was expecting to see. I had fantasised about little cubicles where I could really lay out and snore.   It was now close to midnight  and my departure was at 7am. I realised that my phone had lost power and I didn’t have a charger on me with the correct electrical plug as that was all snug in my suitcase. Eventually, I found the parade of airport shops which were all closed apart fro...

    Eleven pairs of boots dangling down, A well-deserved lunch break and rest, Far above the city’s rooftops, We sit and survey our handiwork. A drink and a joke and a smoke, Companionable chat and mutual respect, The honest dignity of a hard day’s work, And a view not many have seen. Up here we feel like the kings of the world, Building the future but alive in the present, Our skyscraper will join many others, But for us it will always stand proud. We were born to move and create with our hands, And we do so six days a week, Our limbs may ache with exhaustion, But our faces reveal a proud satisfaction. Eleven pair of boots dangling down, Long since lost, rotted and vanished, But our fingers will linger on those bricks forever, And our spirits still soar above the New York skyline. This poem was inspired by the famous black and white photo 'Lunch atop a Skyscraper' ...