TYNESIDE POETS!

TYNESIDE POETS!

Wednesday 17 April 2013

PAUL SUMMERS




acknowledged land
(coalburn, northumberland.)


weep november cold tears,
make this ford unpassable.


hide us in the mizzle caul of ancient fears,
protect us from this reiver dark.


fox cry, plangent grace,
the wearing lines


of history on her face:
the ghost of static mines,


the broken ribs of rusted ships,
of shoulders laden with flacid chips.


inscribe a legend on your map,
no longer whippet & cloth cap


but totem statuary here & there,
a culture raped, the cupboard bare.


this north, this cold, acknowledged land
where rule is cheap & underhand


where heritage is all the rage
& all our rage now heritage.



paul summers