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Anne Born
Anne Born introduced by Sophia Yannatou
The Freeman
I made the Lord Chamberlain a promise
to lead a moral life! Not as a foundry slave
but in my father's Founder's Company
even if my pen and its produce
seem nearer to the Stationers' livery.
The freedom of the City: a square mile
of money along golden streets?
Towers built with credit shine and shout
out of the mouths of executives
dodging execution by bomb or board.
The river flows under London Bridge
where crowds still flood at high tide
morning and evening. Flesh over bone
marches over the bones of bomb victims,
crunches new-shattered glass underfoot.
Now the City seems safe though its foundations
rest on the fertile mud of Londinium
that's slung around overground and under.
But no one's free to take without payment,
to keep the index rising needs hard labour.
Still, we can walk these streets
cluttered with history, crime and ceremony
on feet that move without machinery,
write poems in ink as well as lazer print.
Think about freedom of the heart.
City Rivers
Rhine and Tiber
Thames and Seine
Maas and Danube
flowing ways
carved from earth
still strong enough
to dwarf the blocks
we've raised along
their flanks
Castle and mansion
palace and forum
market and theatre
cathedral, boulevard
warehouse and bridge
quay and factory
Rivers rise higher
after storm
to flush cellars
and teach the power
of great waters
heavier than fire
and never still
Reflections
last longer
than bricks and stone
generations, money
unnatural history.
Flow Cycles
Rivers that flow through cities
recall headwaters and rushes
lowing cattle, scent of hay and corn
country towns stone-walled at centre
bungaloid skirts edged with new industry.
In cities they load cargoes
carry ferries, float spars,
trolleys, feathers and bobbing bottles.
Offer rest to tired bodies
who want the lull of water.
Rivers slide round cutwaters
muscled as lions, full-blooded
filter foulness, take it mourningly
to sea. Fight for freshness,
give themselves to clouds.
Rise from their beds
time after time
make way for the past
in a watery reincarnation
while older vapours fall
as replenishing sources.
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