Migrant workers at the Ulstermuseum

Migrant workers at the Ulstermuseum

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With chubby legs – each terminating in a fat and scaley fin

the coelacanth in Belfast lives in a tank to keep the liquor in

the giant squid with stretching arms to grasp and suck and swallow

 

the Malone Hoard of polished axe heads found abandoned in a hollow

migrating birds , sand martins , swifts – that fly although they’re stuffed

and warthogs with more tusks than looks with bodies ending in a tuft

hyenas laughing silently at terrible hyena jokes

 

and cases full of scenes of daily life of Neolithic folks

and stripey piglets milling round a huge and bristled hog

 

the elk with spreading antlers that was found preserved entirely in a bog

with tiny head and great big feet and hair made from fleeces

 

a sign that says " please do not touch or this display may fall to pieces ”

nor do not touch Triceratops – it may look fierce but it is much

…..

less replaceable than you are . I like the Irish Furniture , such

skill to inlay oyster shells in smooth and polished sycamore wood

The painting of the tomb of Vergil which is also called " Sun Breaking through a Cloud ”

by Joseph Wright of Derby who usually painted scientific things

…

and of course the dragons in the hall with spreading wicker wings

and they are fastened to the roof and just as well as they must weigh megatons

 

and photos from the Troubles with broken glass and children aiming guns and

all the sea-crusted treasures rescued from the sunken ships of the Armada fleet

 

and sundry displays of crystalware and fashionable hats and also shoes for tiny feet and 

Egyptain princess Takabuti brought from Thebes by those who wished to understand

 

how linen could survive a thousand years – and she just came wrapped in it  . And now her boney hand

 

curls blackly and she stares up blankly at an Ulster ceiling – a long , long way from her own land

 

 

July 2018