Back in 2021, I was commissioned at part of Bury’s Town of Culture to create a series of poems in responses to the history of the town- I realised recently that although they were performed and displayed at Bury Art Museum, they were never published anywhere so I am going to post all five over the next few weeks. Each one involved walking these places I am familiar with, reconnect with them and then digging deep in the archives to find hidden stories

Here is the first: Kay Gardens

Roll UP Roll UP 

Step right this way! 

Come and dance in the gardens 

Come out and play! 

Kay Gardens and the communion of cabs, 

In endless procession.  

A carousel of cars, 

Around this crossroads, 

These moments. 

These interchanges of stories. 

Where past and present collide, 

To fight over the future. 

Roll UP Roll UP 

Step up to the ring! 

Jump in with our boxer 

If fighting’s your thing! 

A tale from the past is calling to you.  

With a roar! 

For once, 

The story goes, 

A man fought a bear here and died.  

And not too many steps away, in the belly of the museum, in an old dusty box 

Are a pair of bear’s feet. 

If the tale is to be believed.  

Roll UP Roll UP 

The circus is in town! 

 Come all to join us, 

Come on down! 

Spaces have stories, 

That belong to those who tell them. 

And if you listen you will hear them 

Fighting against the calling of pigeons 

 the mods said, then the punks said, then the goths said, and the skaters said… 

Then and then. 

The next hat’s in the ring. 

Around and around they go. 

Roll UP Roll UP 

You won’t believe your eyes 

Play for the fun sir 

Play for the prize! 

Taking centre stage, 

Is the momument to Kay, 

Whose shuttle changed the world. 

But the bronze figure on top is not fame, 

It is an angel. 

Carrying a barrel-chested bear fighter 

Who was bested, broken and beat, 

On one final journey 

Around and beyond.  

While the cabs in reverential black 

Bear a silent witness. 

All poems © Josef Minta 2021.