“The drive from Cowdenbeath to Lochgelly took Rebus through Lumphinnans.”
Ian Rankin, The Black Book, 1993
Lumphinnans? Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath?
C’mon, gimme a break! Imagination
Is one thing, but to label Scotland’s heaths
So fancifully? Truly stunning, fun
Places, these? Maybe for colonials—
But locals know such townships awfully well.
Google Cowdenbeath and get eight hundred
Sixty thousand hits—and if you still dwell
In Lochgelly and need to find a pub—
No problem, laddie, seventy one bars
Welcome you close to the train station hub.
As for worn out Lumphinnans’ dying star,
Despite decay and its abandoned mines,
Google hits it seventeen thousand times!
(12/20/07)