Tag: Ireland (page 2 of 3)

Gaeltacht!

fur shore the sleigh bard
conkle drum /bitter hens &
dings this (the pier) /boy or
no tone ever he won than

hick hoes fur that icy tear
/know bye hell her fainting
quarry /bolster firm there
dress the gale /fashed on

pint in stretcher cans /vast
hemp spires great nor wear
nor hear /o fool of shite my
song burr heckles /wince hat

both her pearse had ears -
boye sigh ted lost cockles
bray /sped end last threw
hour finest gaeltacht eire

Mná

nor the key and the woman
nor the girl and the moon
nor the blindingly human
nor the shard for the tune

and the hill for the crescent
and the pond for the scale
and the continuous present
and the smile save the braille

in the table save billows
in the mirror save clouds
in the triumphant pillows
in the bib it's the shroud

it's the same now the ebbing
it's the time now the most
it's the estuarine webbing
it's the girl and the ghost

Fir

not the tree but the man
not the fire but the boys
not the emergency plan
not the silence nor noise

but the swan or the glass
but the time or the dream
but the elegant trespass
but the wings and the stream

and the wind not the boat
and the blood not the bay
and the soundless float
and the voice but the day

or the nail nor the wishes
or the tray but the ball
or the unwashed dishes
or the men but the all

Swans of Galway

i never did believe in cygnets
nor families of swans but now
both paddle up the canal beside
me like the girls of my dreams ...

downy fluffy beige & beautiful
eight cygnets swallow stream water
in long-necked gulps right legs
stretched & contorted above as

left flippers gliding on mother
& father following drowsily behind
nearer & further away white as
wisdom gentle as the truths

of birth growth & slow decline
death the black swans feather
squinting eyes that see it all
& eight more stories to sing ...

Chinese Boys

in the bars & on the streets
picking up where the lads
left off filling buckets &
gathering glasses/stories together

diaspora of the unions past
performing their apprenticeships
at low cost drifting off to
sleep after downing two three

pints of the hot stuff love is
work or the new life an exile
from the new olympia harsh 
the memory of previous loves

childhoods all gone now a void
where snoring millions sleep on
holidays how rested saving up
for accommodation (two rooms)