About Me

My photo
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, now living in Cheshire, England. I started to write poetry some years ago, as a hobby. I have enjoyed that new venture very much. My preferences are for long and micro-form poetry styles. A first book of poetry ~ Reason Without Rhyme, was published in December 2013. A second book ~ Fifty Seven Pebbles, was published in September 2015...I am presently compiling the content for my third book. Thank you for visiting my Blog... COPYRIGHT: The entire copyright and content of this Blog belongs to the author Eileen T O'Neill. Nothing should be copied, reproduced or hosted as per RSS feed by any other party. {This particularly applies to the USA company Feedspot.com}

Thursday 5 March 2015

Locally Misplaced....



One is now home and the other is a birthplace,
Between here and over there rests a conscience.
Two traditions but so very different in attitudes,
One immersed in new politics but a broken history.
The other blending itself with progressive changes,
Silk Town treasures woven into fresh new heritage.
Belfast has fragility with a more peaceful direction,
Old habits and animosities still raise voices of dissent.
The colloquial warmth and ordinariness has been lost,
Tourist frenzy has engulfed what was once a hometown.
Familiarity has had its heart ripped out and rebranded,
Fabricated zones embrace made-up hens and wild stags.
It’s odd walking in cold shadows as a revisiting stranger,
Recognition finds a welcome on Macclesfield’s cobbles.
Peaks and Plains with their forty shades of country green,
Mills stand alongside the meandering canal with its charm.
Treacle Town revives past festivities with united energies,
The Market Place comes alive with annual family events.
Colourful stalls entice with Cheshire’s cheesy local produce,
Barnaby Carnival recalls a busy past remembered in silk.
Music’s roots bring joy to new waves and old time blues,
The accent of belonging rests amidst two different locales.

©Copyright Eileen T O’Neill 05/03/2015
Poetry Jam Prompt: ‘Local.’..

11 comments:

  1. when i lived in florida...every winter we would get the snow-birds...those escaping the cold...and you would have new neighbors for a season...and the roads would be busy...then in the summer you get tourist families...it was almost like there were 3 different normals...when no one came...when the old did...and when the families did...belonging is important though...that feel of home...where ever you are...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like the way you have shared / compared your present home &your birthplace. So glad that Belfast now has a more peaceful direction. And I can feel the joy of going to Barnaby Carnival & also love visiting stalls with local produce....they really portray a sense of people and place,I think. Thanks for taking part, Eileen!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can really feel what it is to walk between what is now home and one's birthplace I feel the same way when I visit Kelowna, land of my childhood, as opposed to Tofino, home of my spirit. I especially love your line about walking in cold shadows as a revisiting stranger. How I felt exactly my last trip to Kelowna. I also love "Recognition finds a welcome in Macklesfield's cobbles."

    ReplyDelete
  4. There comes a time when you realize that your birthplace - which might also be where you grew up - is no longer home, or at least not in the sense it used to have. I too am glad that Belfast is more peaceful than it used to be. And I like the little bit of British history waht you say about Cheshire suggests.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A birth-place will always find a fondness in a corner of one'd heart. Irrespective where it was but more so Belfast is very peaceful now. It makes a trip back to be so significant and nostalgic! Wonderful write Eileen!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Familiarity has had its heart ripped out and rebranded,
    Fabricated zones embrace made-up hens and wild stags."

    These lines hurt so deeply. It is a terrible thing to see a place lose its soul at the hand of "progress". May we keep the memory of what was, with all its charm, alive in our hearts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We do find ourselves as revisiting strangers to our birthplaces specially if there's a lot of change...I like the ambiance of the 'two different locales' you've sketched...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can see Cheshire in my mind, those hard cobbled streets, little markets, the wonder and beauty of a living, breathing market town and community.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kind of same situation here. Beautifully penned!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nostalgia tends to blunt sharp corners, and our memory makes harsh and dark colours pastel-toned, Eileen. No mater how painful the past has been we tend to retain what good we were able to glean from it. Change, even if for the better in some instances tend to jar our memories and dealign them, creating the sort of tension you've beautifully expressed in your poem.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Recognition and familiarity is nice.
    How we love our city!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate visits to this Blog and any comments left. I shall always endeavour to reciprocate. Thank you, Eileen