Everyday,
I see this Magpie
stotting
in the garden
and, in its eyes,
I see Hughie Gallagher
with goals
glinting,
swayIng crowds
on the Popular Side.
It flaps its wings
and I imagine Milburn
flying
down the pitch,
and Kevin,
in his element,
cracking goals.
It shrieks and clatters
and I hear
the Gallowgate Roar
and the surge of hope
and despair.
Magpie
calling for his mates,
a bird as strange and awkward
as we Geordies
and just as dashing.
It is Newcastle
in all its striped plumage:
a very rare bird indeed.
KEITH ARMSTRONG
from the new issue of 'true faith' the newcastle united fanzine for which keith armstrong is poet-in-residence
