Poetry by Monica Corish, inspired by the pages of the Observer

Will South Leitrim now be forgotten?
FrontPage Headline, Wednesday October 15, 2014
Pluto was a planet.
For seventysix glorious earthyears,
Pluto was up there with Mercury and Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn. And then,
On a starry night in 2006,
The International Astronomical Union voted:
Declared that Pluto was not and never had been
A planet; was merely a ‘plutoid’.
So it is for South Leitrim, far from the Sun
Of Kildare Street. To learn what fate the gods
Have in store, consult the astrology column
In the Dail Constituency Commission report:
In 2016 Roscommon will split from South Leitrim;
Will cleave to East Galway; South Leitrim
Will remarry North Leitrim; will handfast with Sligo,
A sliver of Cavan, a chunk of South Donegal.
In the meantime South Leitrim is merely
A plutoid, on nobody’s list of voters to please,
Fading fast from the letterhead
Of Sun&Sons&Daughters@SolarSystemsInc.
But hold faith: Pluto has not gone away.
“A Chihuahua is still a dog,” says Alan Stern,
Planetary scientist, “and Pluto is still a planet.”
The people of South Leitrim are still citizens
Of this small, eccentric, flawed republic.
Be luminous.
Exert gravity.
Tug at the Sun.
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