KEEL ROW LAMENT

  (after ‘Lament’ by Gillian Clarke) 

For those few, stubborn, still-functioning shop units units                                        

that refused to close their doors until the end. 

They offered hope to mourning shoppers. 

For the statue of the Blyth legend Willie Carr,  

the strongman cast in metal guarding the car park. 

Current whereabouts unknown. 

For Blyth folk swapping inaccuracies,  

adamant that Things Were Better when you still stood,  

even though they shopped online. 

For the birds, mostly gulls and pigeons, 

finding new places to perch on Poundstretcher, 

Dinotots nursery, the library and Mecca Bingo. 

For your 1990s design and architecture 

which always clashed with the Victorian redbrick               

of the post office, bank and library. 

For the glass apex above the cafe now mixed 

with rubble behind temporary hoardings. 

For security staff guarding what was once there. 

For where you once were is now opened up 

and bus drivers stand in a semi-circle smoking, 

talking and waiting for their vehicles.

Elaine Cusack 

Blyth’s Keel Row shopping centre opened in 1991, and closed in 2024  

‍ ‍

Elaine Cusack was born in Gateshead and started writing and performing poetry in her teens. After graduating in English from Hull University in 1992, she lived in London and Cambridge before returning to the north-east in 2009. Her recent publications are The Princess of  Felling (2019), Loose Threads and Sacred Spaces (2021) and Don’t hassle me with your sighs, Blyth (2025). This poem is from the latter collection. Elaine graduated with an MA in Writing Poetry from Newcastle University in 2025 www.elainecusack.com

‍ ‍