Leaving Fife
Kingdom of Leven, Ladybank and Leuchars;
you are to me like some eccentric uncle,
with your strange suggestive hills,
your round ravilious fields,
and that black hole left by coal at your heart.
With those pretty edges you look like a doily
for the cities to rest their long spoons.
Paunch above the central belt,
fat with fields of yellow rape,
links and scores,
pig-farms, pantiled cottages,
small stranded villages,
Pit-this and Kil-that.
Your modesty exceeds Dundee’s;
your tourist board’s logo is the high road south.
What can I say? I’ll follow the lead
of a Crusoe, a painter, a millionaire,
and – in this order – love you, and leave you.
'Leaving Fife' © Dorothy Lawrenson. 'Leaving Fife' first published in Edinburgh Review #126 (2009). 'Viewmaster', 'The Nerja Caves' and 'Leaving Fife’ appear in Dorothy Lawrenson’s pamphlet The Year (Perjink Press).
Kingdom of Leven, Ladybank and Leuchars;
you are to me like some eccentric uncle,
with your strange suggestive hills,
your round ravilious fields,
and that black hole left by coal at your heart.
With those pretty edges you look like a doily
for the cities to rest their long spoons.
Paunch above the central belt,
fat with fields of yellow rape,
links and scores,
pig-farms, pantiled cottages,
small stranded villages,
Pit-this and Kil-that.
Your modesty exceeds Dundee’s;
your tourist board’s logo is the high road south.
What can I say? I’ll follow the lead
of a Crusoe, a painter, a millionaire,
and – in this order – love you, and leave you.
'Leaving Fife' © Dorothy Lawrenson. 'Leaving Fife' first published in Edinburgh Review #126 (2009). 'Viewmaster', 'The Nerja Caves' and 'Leaving Fife’ appear in Dorothy Lawrenson’s pamphlet The Year (Perjink Press).
