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The Friday Poem on 06/05/22

We chose ‘About the Building’ by Paul Stephenson to be this week’s Friday Poem because we love the air of mystique which pervades the poem. What is this building that is ‘homely in style’ and yet seems somehow forbidding or macabre, with its plaque and its ‘No parking’ sign and all that slick and glossy ominous red paint? The clue is in the last stanza, when we realise we’ve come to see a body, and the rush of insight — that this is a building very far from ‘homely’ — is made that much more moving as Stephenson brings his human, peopled experience into the poem. It’s cleverly done throughout, and very rewarding.

About the Building

The entry says it’s homely in style,
double-fronted and two-storied
with gable dormer windows in the roof.
It refers to brick quoins and brick surrounds,
two large chimneys, one either side,
and an arched entrance for large vehicles.

No mention is made of the red gloss paint
of the main door, or the red gloss paint
of the gates to the right. It doesn’t talk about
the sign: No parking – Gates in Constant Use,
or how the red acts as a beacon for visitors
when the day is turning overcast.

It speaks of a plaque dating back to 1891
by the Hackney District Board of Works,
and how the place would play 
a wartime role in ‘Operation Mincemeat’, 
inspire the international bestseller 
The Man Who Never Was.

Rich in detail, it doesn’t tell you how
when you’ve an appointment to see the body,
you’ll stare over at the building 
from inside a car, muttering That must be it,
while the driver, a family member
or close friend, roots around for change.

Paul Stephenson studied modern languages and linguistics. He has published three pamphlets: Those People (Smith/Doorstop, 2015), which won the Poetry Business pamphlet competition; The Days that Followed Paris (HappenStance, 2016), written after the November 2015 terrorist attacks; and Selfie with Waterlilies (Paper Swans Press, 2017). In 2013/14 he took part in the Jerwood / Arvon mentoring scheme and the Aldeburgh Eight, before completing an MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) with the Manchester Writing School. In 2018 he co-edited the ‘Europe’ issue of Magma (70) and currently co-curates Poetry in Aldeburgh. He lives between Cambridge and Brussels. Paul Stephenson’s website is here.

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