Great Regulars: Here [Charles] Boyle conjures two locations,

the slash between them connoting the border that separates Ayamonte in Spain and Vila Real in Portugal. This places an emphasis on the process of crossing; the slash stands not only for the river Guadiana, and the ferry plying it, but also for an oscillation between two points, like "the stranger/pacing the deck between stern and bows/and back again, and back again".

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: "Ayamonte/Vila Real"

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