by David McCormack
A personal timeline through my early history
1. Holloway Road, Islington N19
From Fairmead Road to Eden grove,
along Marx’s pilgrim route,
daily journey to and from school,
holding my mother’s hand, tightly,
or riding, a tiny pillion papoose n
my father’s modest auto-cycle
weaving intricate patterns
between giant grazing trolley buses
engorging and disgorging their freight
2. An Islington Spring, circa, 1957
Lilacs spangled by spring shower
In a child’s hand mother bound,
crossing threshold and a taboo of Irish
superstition, “No, son,” she said,
“Get them out of here. They invite
Death in here, as a guest. At least
bad luck. Bad luck and a keening
Banshee at our door.”
3. Old Snap shot
Here is my father
sitting astride a modest motorcycle,
caught, I guess, between
The speed of light
And the reflexive iris of a box camera.
There he is drained of all colour,
made anaemic by the monochrome process
made more poignant in the two
decades since his death.
Here my father is Lord of the moment,
occupying space and time …
Indeed, despite being a meagre
rent paying tenant in this north
London house … he is sovereign
of this topos and a colourful
loci in my memory.
Angle, seemingly Novelle Vague
but I was a toddler.