Thu Sep 12 08:55:57 UTC 2024: ## Belfast Pogrom: Poem Highlights Anti-Catholic Violence in Northern Ireland
A new poem by acclaimed poet Paul Muldoon, “Joy in Service on Rue Tagore,” has sparked controversy with its graphic depiction of anti-Catholic violence in Belfast. The poem, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, utilizes stark imagery to compare the brutality of shipyard workers to the daily struggles of linen workers in the city’s Odessa Street neighborhood.
Muldoon’s poem, excerpted above, describes the shipyard workers as “no lighter on their feet” than the linen workers, and uses this refrain to highlight their shared experience of hardship and violence. The poem’s use of vivid imagery, such as “black snowflakes” settling on the linen workers, and a Catholic boy “flogged” with his back “striped like the flag flying over Ross’s Mill,” underscores the grim reality of sectarian violence in the area.
The poem, though fictional, draws on a real-life historical event: the Belfast pogrom of 1920, a period of intense sectarian violence targeting Catholics. By drawing parallels between the historical event and the present, Muldoon raises important questions about the ongoing struggle for peace and equality in Northern Ireland. The poem is sure to generate discussion about the enduring legacy of sectarianism and the need for social justice in the region.
First Piper 