Tag Archives: Bury

The Bury Poems 3: The Rock

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Image copyright The Frances Frith Collection.

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.

The rock

Dark night, full moon

A burning trail across the night sky

A meteorite, big as a house

Slams into ancient Bury.

The Rock.

The druids gathered

Dark night to bright morning

The chants raising to a crescendo as the sun peeks perfectly over the holy stone.

It is summer, the solstice

The Rock.

Tied fast with both hands.

Guilty as charged.

A thief and a drunkard.

Three days, publicly shamed.

Like Prometheus tied.

The Rock.

“The Romans brought it”

“No I heard the Celts”

“There is no rock on the rock, the rock was a road, or a river or something”

But the stories?

Just rumours,

But the tales

They will tell.

Look now – and the story is you.

Every shining glass surface,

Reflects us now.

Who we are.

Our head briefly and awkwardly poised on mannequins before we move on,

Their outstretched hands

 welcome us, but don’t know us,

As we pass between,

Buy,

And leave.

Never noticing the path, the river, the road or the route

That brought us here

The foundation that everything was built upon

The Rock.

So when the bags are not too heavy,

Or you have a moment to spare,

Find the gravestones they left.

The stone road,

That will lead you back,

To the heart, the centre

The Rock.

The Bury Poems.

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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. 

This Way/These Words

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Although I may have been quiet…I’ve actually been very busy. I was chosen as a successful applicant for a Bury Town Of Culture micro commission which is slowly coming to completion and is currently part of an exhibition at Bury Art Museum.

 

For the commission, I wrote five poems responding to Bury as place and its unique and often hidden history. Using a combination of local knowledge (from being a lifelong resident), half heard tales and archive material, I wrote about Kay Gardens, Bury Art Museum and Library, Bury Market, The Rock, and the Robert Peel statue. When the poems were written they have then been shared and as part of an ongoing process are being recorded by current and former residents to then be accessible as an audio tour around the town. It has been really fantastic to hear these poem brough to life in different voices with unique intonations and phrasing. I also performed the poems on a busy and blustery Bury Market (next to the chippy!) and then last week in Bury Art Museum to launch the exhibition. Seeing your poems up in print and being able to share them with a wide audience is a really great feeling and I am really proud of the work. (Huge thanks to Anna, Steve and all the BAM team who have put the exhibition together and helped support the live events.)

The recording and editing process is still ongoing If you wish to record your own version of one of these poems to be included, please contact me via townofculture@bury.gov.uk with the heading poetry and the emails and recording instructions will be sent out to you.

You should also take the time to check out the other commissions- some really fantastic work by local artists, illustrators and photographers that really reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our local community. The exhibition runs until 22nd February 2022 and sits alongside the excellent exhibition programme at our amazing gallery an sculpture centre.