They say that for years Belfast was backwards and it’s great now to see some progress. So I guess we can look forward to taking boxes from the earth. I guess that ambulances will leave the dying back amidst the rubble to be explosively healed. Given time, one hundred thousand particles of glass will create impossible patterns in the air before coalescing into the clarity of a window. Through which, a reassembled head will look out and admire the shy young man taking his bomb from the building and driving home.
COMMUNICATION 46 After Reading and Listening MANAGING MYSELF
Check your understanding 1. Summarise the first two lines of the poem in your own words. 2. Describe, in your own words, what is happening from lines 3 to 12 of this poem.
LITERACY
3. From your reading of lines 3 to 12, what does the speaker think of those who now see ‘progress’ in Belfast?
BEING CREATIVE R E E L
4. Find examples of each of the following in the poem: (a) assonance (b) rhyme or half-rhyme (c) alliteration (d) sibilance (e) imagery
WORKING WITH OTHERS
5. What, in your opinion, are the two most striking images Gillis uses in this poem? Explain your answer with reference to the poem.
NUMERACY STAYING WELL R E E L
6. Write a one-sentence summary of this poem communicating its theme. 7. Do you prefer Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson or Progress by Alan Gillis? Explain your answer by referring to the aspects of the poems that do or don’t appeal to you.
