Invisible cities

[altariel]

kathyh's thought-provoking post about London not only set me onto this terrific Anglo-Saxon poem about living alongside Roman ruins, but made me think about other writings about cities.



White City by Shane MacGowan

Here a tower shining bright
Once stood gleaming in the night
Where now there's just the rubble in the hole
Here the paddies and the frogs
Came to gamble on the dogs
Came to gamble on the dogs not long ago

Oh the torn up ticket stubs
From a hundred thousand mugs
Now washed away with dead dreams in the rain
And the car-parks going up
And they're pulling down the pubs
And its just another bloody rainy day

Oh sweet city of my dreams
Of speed and skill and schemes
Like Atlantis you just disappeared from view
And the hare upon the wire
Has been burnt upon your pyre
Like the black dog that once raced
Out from trap two





North-West by Carol Ann Duffy

However it is we return to the water's edge
where the ferry grieves down by the Pier Head,
we do what we always did and get on board.
The city drifts out of reach. A huge silvery bird,
a kiss on the lip of the wind, follows our ship.
This is where we were young, the place no map
or heritage guide can reveal. Only an X on a wave
marks the spot, the flowers of litter, a grave
for our ruined loves, unborn children, ghosts.
We look back at the skyline wondering what we lost
in the hidden streets, in the rented rooms,
no more than punters now in a tourist boom.
Above our heads the gulls cry yeah yeah yeah.
Frets of light on the river. Tearful air.


[glitterboy1, that's from the collection you bought me for my birthday. I was glad it had a poem about a place we both know :-) ]





From Making History by Stephen Fry

Say, stand the bollards yet in rows
Mute guardians of the contraflows?
Are there stabbings after dark?
And is it still a cunt to park?

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

One of the most awesome things I ever saw was the actor and writer Barry Simner (who wrote The Vice and a lot of early The Bill reciting the Old English poem about the blacksmith (so close to Anglo-Saxon you couldn't make out half the words, but his manner made all clear). (It's in the voice of a man who can't sleep for the hammering next door). It was Simner's party piece and he was really into it.

Re:

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I don't know the poem, but it sounds amazing.

[kathyh]

Due to my depressing ignorance of modern poetry I didn't know any of those and liked them all. Brilliant parody of Rupert Brooke too *g*.

Thanks for saying my post was "thought-provoking". Makes me feel less stupid about forgetting the A to Z *g*.

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[altariel.livejournal.com]

Due to my depressing ignorance of modern poetry I didn't know any of those and liked them all.

I don't really know anything either. The Stephen Fry bit is from a novel, I happened to have been bought a book of Duffy's poetry for my birthday - and the last is a Pogues song :-D


Thanks for saying my post was "thought-provoking". Makes me feel less stupid about forgetting the A to Z *g*.

Forgetting A to Zs, my name and/or age/phone number/postcode, which way is left and which way is right, etc. etc. are all par for the course around here. Usually because I'm doing something like thinking about people's interesting posts on Anglo-Saxon poems about living near Roman ruins! ;-D I haven't walked into a lamp-post yet, but it's been a close run thing occasionally.

Re:

[kathyh]

and the last is a Pogues song :-D

LOL. I thought it must be a different Shane MacGowan. Must borrow some of my brother's Pogues cds.

which way is left and which way is right

Been there, done that, got several t-shirts. The DH is so untrusting of my telling him to turn the right way when driving that he double checks three times or so and we miss the turning!

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[altariel.livejournal.com]

Must borrow some of my brother's Pogues cds.

He's written a couple of hymns to London.


which way is left and which way is right

Been there, done that, got several t-shirts

Mistakenly put the white t-shirts in with the red t-shirts... ;-)

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[kathyh]

LOL. Done that too.

Re:

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say - about the Rupert Brooke poem: when I did finally read the whole thing, I was stunned and then laughed like a drain to find out that, after the church clock and honey for tea opening verses, it's a lot closer to the Stephen Fry parody than I'd ever realized!

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[kathyh]

I'll go and check it out. It occurred to me that poetry inspired by cities through the ages would be a great idea for an anthology, but I'm sure somebody has already thought of it.

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[altariel.livejournal.com]

If an anthology on those lines ever crosses your path, do let me know. It's one I'd like to read too.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

[Sorry for not commenting sooner - nightmare of a day!]

I was glad it had a poem about a place we both know

So am I, and I'm glad that it was appropriate. :-) Thank you for posting these!

Re:

[altariel.livejournal.com]

nightmare of a day

:-(

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :-) I'll doubtless wibble about it later, if I can wring any humour out of it! But first, I'm going home.

Oooh, and I'll also wibble about some good news: I'm going on holiday!!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hurray, holiday! Where? When?

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Italy! Next month!

Scary, isn't it? Don't fall off your chair quite yet, though: it's only for a long weekend. But it's with a group of friends, and I'm really looking forward to it! Will hopefully post more about it tomorrow.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yippee!