Lines upon the Tenth Anniversary of DCA

It was on the 20th of March Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Nine
That along the Nethergate there stretched an anticipatory line
Which at half past ten advanced in fits and starts
Through the sliding entrance door of Dundee Contemporary Arts.

Few in the city had seen artworks newer
In a building just opened the day before by Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar
And it was as if from their eyes there was lifted a layer of stoor
Before the works of Warhol, Joseph Beuys and Anish Kapoor.

There too were Anya Gallaccio and Callum Innes
While in the bar were Hoegarten and Guinness
Which in themselves did cause a cultural crisis
When Dundee first encountered Edinburgh prices.

With two Cinemas and a Printing Studio
Some proclaimed it as the only place to go
But most curious to see were the hordes who attended when
The bar was the only thing that seemed to be open.

It is now ten years since Dundee was awoken from its cultural slumbers
And people have come to DCA in quite exceptional numbers.
In retrospect the rationale is really quite succinct:
You can bring some folk to culture but they also like a drink.