Gary Allen
In a Bombed Hotel in Porstewart
Schoolchildren huddle against the wind
on a rain lashed promenade,
crows squawk from loose telegraph wires,
and here, in a bombed hotel in Portstewart
shoe soles crunch over gravel, cement,
minute fragments of shattered glass.
Pitted steps lead nowhere to an air-hungry doorway,
and the charred remains of a staircase
spiral through empty rooms to a sky cold with stars.
On the unscathed billboard out front
a handwritten poster advertises
the Friday dance – several seasons ago,
and the hollow black-rimmed windows are commonplace now,
like the ruins of a castle perched on a hill.
At night, there is a gap in the ring of town-lights,
and a hundred empty caves for the wind to howl.
No one dresses for the new moon,
no one prepares a set supper in the kitchen.
Young waitresses pass ethereal with the local band,
and the bar-staff stand eternal at their places.
Page(s) 86
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