Forget 140 character stories on twitter we now have a 224 word story on a stamp!
To celebrate
Dublin’s permanent designation in July 2010 as a UNESCO City of Literature Ireland
has issued a 60 cent stamp with the words of a 224 word short work by Eoin
Moore that captures
‘the essence of Dublin’.
Eoin
Moore’s short work, as depicted is on An Post’s new 60c stamp.
The
thick clouds cover up the moonlight, but the city’s lights provide worthwhile
illumination – above them all, the beacon burns bright atop the monolithic
podium, signalling to wayfaring voyages the ancient Viking settlement.
Now, where Norsemen once stood, I look back, along the quays, streets and
alleys, to where the inhabitants live their lives: eating, speaking, and
breathing their city into existence. It gives me cause to wonder, as I
stroll aimlessly along the cobbled paths, about those who have traversed them
before me, by carriage or before there were even cobbles to walk upon. I
feel their lives and mine are somehow connected, that we all were at one point
a part of this city, living pieces of its grand, striking
framework. Every High King and scholar, every playwright and poet,
every politician and every rebel, every merchant, student, and busker who ever
set foot in the city holds or held onto a chunk of this city’s soul; every one
of them stepped to the city’s heartbeat. I listen to the streets at night
and I can feel the city’s lifeblood pumping through me; I can feel myself
flowing through it. All of us who travel those arteries step on the
words, actions, and lives of those who travelled them before us. The city
embodies the people, and the people embody the city.
The
unusual new stamp and a First Day Cover may be viewed and purchased at main post
offices, at Dublin’s GPO and online at www.irishstamps.ie
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