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I wrote this and it's now on the internet

#northern ireland #derry #summer #celia burke #post-conflict #travel #anthropology #war and peace studies

Tracy's Bar. Derry, Northern Ireland, August 2013.

#derry #tracy's bar #northern ireland #ireland #pub #bar

Casualty

I

He would drink by himself

And raise a weathered thumb

Towards the high shelf,

Calling another rum

And blackcurrant, without

Having to raise his voice,

Or order a quick stout

By a lifting of the eyes

And a discreet dumb-show

Of pulling off the top;

At closing time would go

In waders and peaked cap

Into the showery dark,

A dole-kept breadwinner

But a natural for work.

I loved his whole manner,

Sure-footed but too sly,

His deadpan sidling tact,

His fisherman’s quick eye

And turned observant back.

Incomprehensible

To him, my other life.

Sometimes, on the high stool,

Too busy with his knife

At a tobacco plug

And not meeting my eye,

In the pause after a slug

He mentioned poetry.

We would be on our own

And, always politic

And shy of condescension,

I would manage by some trick

To switch the talk to eels

Or lore of the horse and cart

Or the Provisionals.

But my tentative art

His turned back watches too:

He was blown to bits

Out drinking in a curfew

Others obeyed, three nights

After they shot dead

The thirteen men in Derry.

PARAS THIRTEEN, the walls said,

BOGSIDE NIL. That Wednesday

Everyone held

His breath and trembled.

II

It was a day of cold

Raw silence, wind-blown

surplice and soutane:

Rained-on, flower-laden

Coffin after coffin

Seemed to float from the door

Of the packed cathedral

Like blossoms on slow water.

The common funeral

Unrolled its swaddling band,

Lapping, tightening

Till we were braced and bound

Like brothers in a ring.

But he would not be held

At home by his own crowd

Whatever threats were phoned,

Whatever black flags waved.

I see him as he turned

In that bombed offending place,

Remorse fused with terror

In his still knowable face,

His cornered outfaced stare

Blinding in the flash.

He had gone miles away

For he drank like a fish

Nightly, naturally

Swimming towards the lure

Of warm lit-up places,

The blurred mesh and murmur

Drifting among glasses

In the gregarious smoke.

How culpable was he

That last night when he broke

Our tribe’s complicity?

‘Now, you’re supposed to be

An educated man,’

I hear him say. ‘Puzzle me

The right answer to that one.’

III

I missed his funeral,

Those quiet walkers

And sideways talkers

Shoaling out of his lane

To the respectable

Purring of the hearse...

They move in equal pace

With the habitual

Slow consolation

Of a dawdling engine,

The line lifted, hand

Over fist, cold sunshine

On the water, the land

Banked under fog: that morning

I was taken in his boat,

The Screw purling, turning

Indolent fathoms white,

I tasted freedom with him.

To get out early, haul

Steadily off the bottom,

Dispraise the catch, and smile

As you find a rhythm

Working you, slow mile by mile,

Into your proper haunt

Somewhere, well out, beyond...

Dawn-sniffing revenant,

Plodder through midnight rain,

Question me again.

- Seamus Heaney

#Seamus Heaney #poetry #derry #bloody sunday #death #human #connection #poems #poem #resilience #conflict #RIP

Painting signs to promote the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Mason's, Derry. August 2013

#Derry #Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann #painting #pubs

Kinnagoe Bay, Co. Donegal, Ireland. Unless the person who told me this was spinning a yarn (which is a definite possibility), you can see Scotland in the distance from this part of the coast. August 2013.

#Ireland #coast #Kinnagoe Bay #Donegal #Inishowen #ocean #sea #rocks #beach #Irish coast

Paint bombs on and around Walker's Pillar (near the Apprentice Boys' Hall). Derry, July and August 2013.

#derry #walker's pillar #paint bombs #graffiti

Free Derry Wall promoting the Fleadh, which starts this weekend. The fact that the Fleadh website is a .co.uk has caused a bit of controversy, evidenced by the fact that I haven't seen the wall without graffiti (or covered up graffiti) yet. Derry, August 2013.

#derry #fleadh #free derry wall #free derry #graffiti

The Guildhall and Peace Bridge. Derry, Northern Ireland. July 2013.

#Derry #Northern Ireland #Peace Bridge #Guildhall #Londonderry

Long Tower Church (St. Columba's). Derry, Northern Ireland. July 2013.

#Long Tower #church #Derry #Northern Ireland #catholic #cemetery

Street performers in Guildhall Square for the “Flavours of the Foyle" community event. Derry, July 2013.

#Derry #Northern Ireland #Flavours of the Foyle #City of Culture #UK City of Culture #street performance #lobster #fish

The Bogside. Derry, July 2013.

#the bogside #derry #northern ireland #ireland #politics #travel

Graffiti on and around the city walls overlooking the Bogside. Derry, July 2013.

#Derry #graffiti #northern ireland #politics #IRA #dolours price #city walls

The recently refurbished Operation Motorman mural by the Bogside Artists. Derry, July 2013.

#Bogside Artists #Operation Motorman #the troubles #northern ireland #mural #art #public art #commemoration #the Bogside #Derry

"IRELAND SAYS NO G8" on the rear side of the Free Derry Wall. Rossville St, the Bogside, Derry, July 2013.

#free derry #bogside #g8 #g8 summit #derry #northern ireland #politics #austerity

The recently (about six weeks ago) defaced hunger strikers mural in the Bogside. According to the artists, this is the first Bogside Artists’ murals here to ever be defaced. The Bogside, Derry, July 2013.

#bogside artists #bogside #hunger strike #mural #northern ireland #art #defaced

Tourists admiring the windows and pipe organ in the meeting room of the Guildhall. Derry, July 2013.

#derry #guildhall #pipe organ #stained glass #old building #tourists

Detail of a WWI commemorative window in the Guildhall. Derry, 2013.

#derry #northern ireland #guildhall #world war I #WWI #stained glass #window

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