No Quarrel with the Wind by Ann Zell

Cycling up from the Westlink
each turn of the pedal
qas a private battle
fought against unseen odds
until I came abreast
of an old man in a grey duncher*
upright as an Irish dancer
cycling home in low gear

easy as a summer breeze
or a skater on solid ice
or a hard lesson
suddenly understood.

*A ‘duncher’ is a big flat cap. It is a Belfast word used for the caps worn by workers in the shipbuilding industry.

From: Bourke, Angela; Kilfeather, Siobhán; Luddy, Maria; Mac Curtain, Margaret; Meaney, Gerardine; Ní Dhonnchadha, Máírín; O’Dowd, Mary; and Wills, Clair (eds.), The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Volume 5: Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions, New York University Press: New York, p. 1402
(https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qZ6W1LiIyYYC)

Date: 1998

By: Ann Zell (1933-2016)