Liverpool

I’m a Liver bird, verdigris and aloof.

Ben Johnson's The Liverpool Cityscape, Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3

They made me their emblem…

Queensway Tunnel ventilation tower, The Strand, Liverpool, Merseyside, L2

They made me rustproof.

Sheppard Robson's University of Liverpool Engineering Campus, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3

And I’ll not leave this city, cos I’m tied to the roof.

Cavern Club, Matthew Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L2

From Roger McGough, Sylvia Hikins and Dave Ward’s Liverpool Saga (2007)

Ben Pimlott Building

Always present yourself as one
Who, neither saint nor god,

Will Alsop's Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross, Lewisham, SE14

Didn’t quite get the assignment done,
Being tragically flawed.

Will Alsop's Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross, Lewisham, SE14

From Timothy Steele’s Advice to the Student (1994)

Brunei Gallery

Let everyone know, I am quite a hooligan.
Gendarmes and taxmen are after my soul…

Dierbékir (Turquie) - Panorama, Brunei Gallery, Thornhaugh Street, Camden, WC1H

…In the eyes of the clockwork toilers,
nothing could be blacker than my soul…

Emballage de Laine à Orfa, Brunei Gallery, Thornhaugh Street, Camden, WC1H

…if you ask the denizens of laboratories
my soul is a fake.

From Ismet Özel’s When Smiling at my Executioner (1984)