A skyline as idiosyncratic
as Manhattan’s, Chicago’s – its totems
of wealth, faith and dominion – belies
the city’s cruelty: fortunes from famine,
despotism, slavery; licensing
of squalor, bigotry and despair.
In the park where the Orange Lodge drummed out
The Twelfth, a rape was immediate headlines -
white girl, black youths. In Toxteth – its decayed
squares and terraces built on molasses
and cotton, some street signs repainted green,
gold, red, the colours of Rastafari -
was daubed, ‘Vote ANC’.
#1 by John Huddart - April 19th, 2010 at 19:05
Thank God for Liverpool, whose ambiguous glamour still raises ironies for us all to salute!
#2 by Howard Gardener - July 16th, 2010 at 08:33
Twenty years on and people are still expecting a repeat of the riots. Such a shame that the Year of Culture merely brushed Toxteth under the carpet.