If the art galleries shut
It’s not just a case of where
Would all the pictures go?

Not just a case of where
Would all of the staff go
(even though there is precious
few of them left altogether now),

or drawing classes
not being able to draw
or sketch
anywhere else.

It’s more of a case
Of it the art galleries shut
Where would you
Be encouraged
To look at life
From a different angle.

Where would people
Be encouraged to think
Outside of the box
And look at Narnia
As more than a
Haunted woodland.

Lowry as more
Than a study of Salford
In matchstick men and women
In glass bubbles,

And Munch’s the Scream
More than a storm in a teacup
But rather than a two litre bottle.

Without that,
Where would the freedom
For expression be?

(wrote for the stockport write out loud ebook sent to the press about the possible closures and changes to stockport art gallery)