Edinburgh Volte-Face by Christine de Luca

Title: Edinburgh Volte-Face
Author: Christine de Luca
Number: 59/100
Allocated postcode: EH10

Edinburgh Volte-Face

City of seven hills
rivalling Rome: you are
the big sister of all cities,
forever tut-tutting.

City of venerable skylines;
each morning you un-do yourself
like someone more anxious to save
the wrapping than enjoy the gift.

City of open spaces: for you
no strollers in the forum; merely
a scurry of solicitors, vellum-faced
with long north-facing days,
and little women, worn
from cleaning other people’s stairs.

City of the great estates;
you have no outer wall,
but numerous apartheids
charitably maintained.

City of seven hills
rivalling Rome: I hold
your negative to the light,
and see your true topography.