Coffee In Kirkcudbright Poem by Laurence Overmire

The best places to go
Are the places
Off the beaten track
The places the tourists
Don't know about

The unsung places
You won't find in the books
Like unsung people
Without pretense
Without show

They're real places
Like Kirkcudbright
Or
Ker KOO bree
As the locals say

An artist's town
In the Stewartry
Of Dumfries and Galloway
At the mouth of the
River Dee

Life flows like the
River here
Calmly
Into the waiting waters
Of the Solway Firth

White, red, yellow
Flowers
Line the way
As you amble down the
Main Street

The buildings painted
In green, blue, purple
And peach pastels
A baker's goods appealing
To your sense of smell

Boats and crews
Are busy at the wharf
A working harbour
That gives this place
A certain charm

The old ruin of MacLellan's
Castle
Dating back to 1577
Presides with a flair of mystery
Over the scene

John Paul Jones was once
Held prisoner
In the old Tolbooth
Now a gallery for the local
Artists' inspirations

We stop in a café
Chat with the owner
Sip the hometown brew
From a table on the
Street

Old folks passing
Mothers with their strollers
Children with their dogs
Greeting one another
As they go by

A small town simplicity
Seems harder and harder
To find sometimes
No worry
No hurry

Relax.
Unwind.
Enjoy.

~ Laurence Overmire

(Previously published in The Ghost of Rabbie Burns: An American Poet's Journey Through Scotland, Indelible Mark Publishing,2016)