Thursday, 23 September 2010

Place names carry history by Síle Moriarty

the trail from Kirkstall to Monkbridge;
the slow wind of pack horse to wagon
tracked earth to tarmac;
the greedy dissolution of Kirkstall
on Cromwell’s report 
and the later distaff despoliation of Ireland;
the estates of Cardigan and Beckett
summed by semis and terraces
and the oaken wapentake 
quenched in the Skyrack;
the Norse mermaid of legend
sanitised by Starbucks now 
drinks latte and mourns her breasts;
the lane at the Three Horseshoes
opens the Wetewood
which killed a prince of Abyssinia
with cold miasma; 
the Lounge, eclipsed by the Arc
lingers in local politics
while the Cottage Road, 
a refugee, has screened since 1912.

These place names carry history -
they start with capital letters.

 

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