Bath is one of my favourite cities. Built around the hot springs of Sulis-Minerva, the river seems to have been overlooked. While the Baths get a hyphenated Celtic-Roman double name, the river is called simply ‘river’. It may once have had a name that suited its beauty, usefulness and navigability, but that has long been lost. Or, perhaps, it was stolen by the hot springs. At least the county is named after it, I suppose.
Afan
This town
began with water,
navigable curve of river,
cold cupping on three sides
the hot springs of Sulis-Minerva.
Today
the river slips away unseen,
behind the bus depot, the rugby ground,
to sulk by railway tracks, and then around
the rigmarole of carparks, one-way streets
and
traffic jams, till this town ends
with trees, bathing in the evening glow
yolkyellow
like custard cooked and set to cool
in a leaf green bowl