Tinamints

Michael Mullen

Rid firmamints—jostlin the skyline

Atlas-backed manses cerryin dreich.

Trickin yir eye—wae each bent windae—burnt shooders

skimmin smirr—sittin squat. Tabacca shadet tinamints

windaes riflectin sun rages. Indipindint

stawnin oan eez tod—great survivor ae renovations.

Klimt-licht, ginger brick, a solid frieze of mason’s origami

gutter linet, lit lang sketches alang eez surface.

Pirmanint—they press doon the highstreets—hawf hexagon

is the sandstone brow ae yer favourite drinkin establishment.

Blonde constant. Lissun how sonorous yer words ae

longing—jaunt to the close—bellowin doon the sliver

ae solid livin. Yer consonants trapped

in its algae-patched grimace or skittin on

the line-gilded tiles of a wally close in shades ae

cheerie rid ur gaulden snooty. Steamboat puffs addin

their ane glamour, as if these behemoths could undock

n sail the street. Lives stacked on each othir

lit stanzas—glawin amber caverns—monstera hands

clasped oantae windaes. Whit lives these tinamints huv cooried,

terracotta pots shorn tae a tapestry ae jawlines,

rain-drenched each year n yet they breathe

sparkle-dry—peat-broon bruise, blue shade

made livin light. Fuck yer tombstones—when I go

tell them I was powdered tae dust n mixed

wae Scotland’s best brick—ma eulogy—

Hail thi stane thit hames us.

Originally published in Issue #32

Michael Mullen is a queer poet, writer and spoken word artist from Glasgow. His first collection Goonie was published in June 2025, and shortlisted for the Forward Prize Best First Collection.