Bantry / Sunday 7 – Saturday 13 July - West Cork Music

MILL WHEEL AT BANTRY(i.m. J.G. Farrell)This twelve-foot torque is the iron ghostof an ancient wheel, turning riveted slatsback and up. Now stuck, now moving againscattering jewels through bright airfrom a twist-stream bucketingover slimed rock by the Library,combing tangled grass to emerald hair.This gash at the top of town, with its whiffof Hades, is where we catch our glimpseof what’s below. From here on down, we jointhe hectic flow to the ordinary: tarmac, the Sparand chip-shops, the cafés and whisperingsilver-and-isinglass mud of Bantry Bay.But churning or still, fortune’s wheelRUTH PADELsets the pace. And this wet rock, greyas a sea-lion taking a dive to the dark,plus this pour-down of spark-froth entering townby way of the burying ground, run under it all:under Vickery’s and the famine graves,under the boarded-up House of Elegance,the fire station and two-room museumoffering memorabilia of martyrs, butter-making,caring for sheep; photos of where we areas it used to be; reports of sea-wrecksand sea-rescue; the resin replica of a crossdescrying the quest of St Brendanfor Isles of the Blest. There’s been so muchI haven’t attended to. So much I didn’t see.First published in The Stinging Fly; this poem will appear in Ruth Padel’s forthcoming collection Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth, Chatto & Windus 2014