Eton Manor by Carol Ann Duffy
The past is all around us, in the air,
the acres here were once 'the Wilderness'-
"Blimey, it's fit for a millionaire"-
where Eton Manor Boys Club came to train;
or, in the Clubhouse, (built 1913)
translated poverty to self-esteem,
camaraderie, and optimism
similed in smiles.
the acres here were once 'the Wilderness'-
"Blimey, it's fit for a millionaire"-
where Eton Manor Boys Club came to train;
or, in the Clubhouse, (built 1913)
translated poverty to self-esteem,
camaraderie, and optimism
similed in smiles.
Hackney Wick-
fleas, flies, bin-lids, Clarnico's Jam; the poor
enclosed by railway, marshland, factories, canal-
where Wellesley, Villiers, Wagg, Cadogan came,
philanthropists, to clear a glorious space;
connect the power of place to human hope,
through World War One, the Blitz, till 1967…
on this spot, functional, free, real- heaven.
fleas, flies, bin-lids, Clarnico's Jam; the poor
enclosed by railway, marshland, factories, canal-
where Wellesley, Villiers, Wagg, Cadogan came,
philanthropists, to clear a glorious space;
connect the power of place to human hope,
through World War One, the Blitz, till 1967…
on this spot, functional, free, real- heaven.
This is legacy-
young lives respected, cherished, valued, helped
to sprint, swim, bowl, box, play, excel, belong;
believe community is self in multitude-
the way the past still dedicates to us
its distant, present light. The same high sky,
same East End moon, above this reclaimed wilderness,
where relay boys are raced by running ghosts.
young lives respected, cherished, valued, helped
to sprint, swim, bowl, box, play, excel, belong;
believe community is self in multitude-
the way the past still dedicates to us
its distant, present light. The same high sky,
same East End moon, above this reclaimed wilderness,
where relay boys are raced by running ghosts.
(via)
Another of the poems in Olympic Park, situated at the wheelchair tennis venue. I came across it during my latest bicycling foray, but didn't have time to decipher it on the spot. It's quite hard to make out - is this part of the plan? would having it "look like a poem" cause people to turn away, rather than engage with even a bit of it?
"The poet laureate performed the first reading of her poem, "Eton Manor", to members of the Eton Manor Association. Previously a community facility and sports club founded at the beginning of the 20th century, the former Eton Manor Boy's Club will be hosting wheelchair tennis and swimming training during the Olympics this summer.
"Duffy's poem evokes the venue's past as well as its future, how "the acres here were once 'the Wilderness' ... Hackney Wick- / fleas, flies, bin-lids" and later how the community facility "translated poverty to self-esteem, / camaraderie, and optimism similed in smile". She ends looking to the future and the site's "legacy"; it will again become a community sports facility once the games are over. "Young lives respected, cherished, valued, helped / to sprint, swim, bowl, box, play, excel, belong," she writes. "The same high sky, / same East End moon, above this reclaimed wilderness, / where relay boys are raced by running ghosts."
For me, the "distant, present light" of the past is the memorable phrase, or concept, evoking the vastness of the space that (star)light travels through, as well as the glimmers out of the richness of history that come through to us.
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