Extracts* from
volte-face
Down The Quay
Midwinter horizon growing dim
as I look out across Dundalk Harbour
at scattered worn out birds returning
from expeditions beyond the bar
Bypass bridge glows a red-light row
Cooley traffic homeward bound
while hungry seagulls dine down below
on mudflat delights from Castletown
Ghosts of quay denizens appear here again
close as I stand at the fender faced wall
dockers, sailors, George on his crane
with a steady Master watching all
Coals go from dark holds to Twibill's yard
wagons under screens leaving overspill
children collecting lumps as times were hard
avoiding shunt trains battered prams to fill
Still a valiant Spirit Store will sustain me
while these wistful memories flow and ebb
as there gather neighbours from The Quay
to celebrate still living beside our loved dead
Poisoned Legacy
The first message from the future
arrived by apparition to the UN earlier today
it spoke of hard ways during times ahead
yet had many caring things to say
asking about old games now gone
and did they make us feel secure and fulfilled
or were crooks controlling justice then
to silence critics they would prefer to kill
a condemned legacy of smug failures
our reputation with our progeny not served well
borrowings
used for antecedent’s unearned lifestyles
inherited
to be repaid with interest into a timeless till
did transient platitudes substitute
respect for humanity and the natural world
with defunct prayers later used as underlay
in a rational cultural renewal infill
these and other matters shall be settled it was said
in crisis talks now between the living and the dead
The first message from the future
arrived by apparition to the UN earlier today
it spoke of hard ways during times ahead
yet had many caring things to say
asking about old games now gone
and did they make us feel secure and fulfilled
or were crooks controlling justice then
to silence critics they would prefer to kill
a condemned legacy of smug failures
our reputation with our progeny not served well
borrowings
used for antecedent’s unearned lifestyles
inherited
to be repaid with interest into a timeless till
did transient platitudes substitute
respect for humanity and the natural world
with defunct prayers later used as underlay
in a rational cultural renewal infill
these and other matters shall be settled it was said
in crisis talks now between the living and the dead
