Irish poetry

Routes

Like Nazca lines, underfoot lie markings
long dusted over by the sands of time.
So, Needham Street vanished overnight,

and Patrick Street (Irish on shiny wall-plates)
was suddenly part of your path from Camlough to Dundalk.
Queen Street underwent a gender-change to Francis,

King Street morphed smoothly into Dominic,
and the royal name moved simultaneously
to the North Ward, just to please the Prods,

incidentally consigning Postley Row
to the cul-de-sac of oblivion. Strangely,
Hill Street survived, despite sharing with

the aforementioned aristocratic Needham
the ripe taint of colonial exploitation.
Thankfully, the Belfast, Dublin and Armagh Roads,

together with Monaghan Street and the routes
to Warrenpoint, Rathfriland and Omeath,
caused no offence; on trips back, therefore,

much of my mapped lifespace survives,
and the road home is negotiable
without an alien's need for a bird's-eye view.

URL: www.mourne.net/routes.htm

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