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Ullapool

Sally Evans

You know you’re in Ullapool
when the little town is a sea town,
lorries roll from the docks,
a gaggle of girls buy ice-cream,
the dogs hang round gossiping
the road goes nowhere
and two old people hold hands.

You know you’re in Ullapool
when the little town is a proud town,
the steamer sails for Stornoway,
the shops are stowed with locals
all saying it is “quiet”,
and a wifie on the sea-front
locks herself out of her car.

You know it is Ullapool
when everyone knows the poets,
when Inverness isn’t mentioned,
when you can’t find a policeman
but you couldn’t possibly need one.
It is Ullapool
when you are as glad as this
you have been there today.


Sally Evans

from Bewick Walks to Scotland (Arrowhead, 2004)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

communities Highlands & Islands
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Sally Evansb.1942

Sally Evans is the editor of Poetry Scotland broadsheet magazine, and has several books of poems to her name.
More about Sally Evans

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