LesleyScoble.com

The Writing on the Wall

See the writing on the wall,
It is there,
To declare,
to share
To tell,
To sell
to us all.
The writing on the wall,
Written in a chalky scrawl,
Painted by urban hands
and spray cans
Street art,
graffiti,
vandalism,
expressionism,
write it
in flashing neon light,
your country needs you,
go forth for a fight.

Painters
making their mark
on the wall,
spraying their zone,
their gangland
airbrushing acetone
(water base paint is safer)
or painting by hand.
Spray their mark
on the street
in the Dark
on a railway siding,
On a bridge,
On a tree
in the park,

It’s free speech,
each
one has a voice,
deliberate 
defacement
of property,
aggressive,
expressive,
use of
choice.

Spray from a can,
Like primordial man,
territorial 
urinating
on the wall
as
an
animal.

Writing a tag,
Making a claim
whatever the aim,
fill up your bag
with paint and charcoal,
Write it
on the wall,
For favour or fame,
Share what you want
To everyone,
Whatever your name,
whatever your game
Paint a mural
For one and for all.
Paint it all over the place,
(As a matter of fact,
Some people think it’s art,
some a disgrace)
Paint on a church steeple.
In bright colours that attract, 
Deliberate Decoration Defacement
On a house, 
On the roof
In the basement
On the wall. 
Paint big
paint small
Go downtown,
Uptown,
Down banal backstreets and alleys.
Paint on the towpath canal
and riverbanks
Banksy’s
Turning
the streets
into street artists’ galleries.

Graffiti signwriting can show
The what,
The how,
The where
You can go,
In spatter,
Splash,
Splosh,
on any matter,
With bold
brushstroke,
wear casual dress
(old paint-splattered jeans)
Drink Pepsi
(or coke)
By fair means or foul
At the press 
of an aerosol, 
Cover the drab scenes
Spray the grey slab soul 
of concrete.
In secret.
Spraypaint the display bright
You got it,
right?
You’ve got it made
Spray it on!
In any shade 
of neon

And
What
ever
they
say:
speaker,
politician,
rebel,
activist,
artist,
And 
prophet.

Do it at night,
Not in the day,
Or the police might see you
and lock you away.

Lesley Scoble, November 2023

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Street Art

Banksy

The street artist Banksy must have lived in the City for a while. We saw many of his rats appear on boardings and walls.

These three Banksy Rats decorated a Listed Building on Charterhouse Street. (Hayne Street is a side turning off Charterhouse) They painted round the Banksys when they refurbished the building. The rats no longer exist as they disappeared with the demolition of the Listed Building to make way for the Barbican entrance to the new Elizabeth Line. You might say they railroaded them out.

Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat

I took this photograph of Banksy’s homage to Basquiat on the first morning it appeared (before they covered it in protective perspex). The work was under police guard until they placed the protective shield over it.

Jean-Michel Basquiat photographed by Gianfranco Gorgoni, 1982

Basquiat died of a drug overdose aged 27. (They say he became addicted to heroin following the death of his close friend, Andy Warhol.)
Warhol and Basquiat met when he sold one of his painted postcards to Warhol.

Since his death, the value of his work is soaring. A painting of his sold for $110.5 million in 2017 (Wiki stats).

The Chewing Gum Man

I’ve enjoyed a few chats with The Chewing Gum Man who paints over spat out chewing gum on London’s Millennium Bridge. (I hope he’s okay, as I haven’t seen him in a while). His paintings are perfect miniatures.

The Regents Canal

There is a very nice canal side pub on the Regents Canal. I took this photo while enjoying a cool half of craft beer with my son.

Lean Times

I have a leaning for street art and enjoy a good lean against a graffiti art wall.

Lest We Forget

It is Remembrance Week. I think it’s appropriate to include this image of a house in Bethnal Green displaying an impressive mural. Lest we forget.

Writing on a fragment of the Berlin Wall

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Poetry Prompt Photo Credit
Austin Chan

My thanks to Sadje and her poetry prompt #WDYS for the inspiration for my poem. I should like to express my gratitude and present you with this rose I found on the street.

This rose is for you, Sadje.

I’ll say bye for now, but don’t forget to smile and say hi as you go by.
The writing is on the wall!

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Lesley lives in the City of London Square Mile. An artist, actor and sculptor (her first ceramic sculpture won the V&A inspired by… Award). Scenic artist & book illustrator, playwright, (her musical play, Rapscallion performed in inner city schools and theatre school); TV dancer; Animator and illustrator for TV production. Set up Pinecone Studios Ltd and IIMSI Ltd drama and filmmaking workshops in London – producing award-winning films made by children.