One Second Behind(for Junie)
Memory takes
the chair
places it perfectly
in mid-air
yet erases the stair
that brings me there
forgets to sketch in
the rest of the house
the storm is placed
just outside the window
(just as it was)
livid with lightning
the voice of the thunder
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Durer's Hare
Vivid
as Durer's hare
as if my eyes had drawn
each & every hair
knew personally
each strand
its coat moving softly
in the breeze
moving with the rhythm
of its breathing
a real live hare
an inch and an eternity away
hanging out with us
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Broken Fragments Of Water
Cool earthenware pot
holding water as if it were
love that slopped & lapped
over its top
full to the brim
wearing with pride
the touch of your fingerprints
still visible
from its making
one lost windy night
the fierceness of its blue glaze
and now it contains
summer
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Rhapsody In Purple
'Rhapsody in Blue'
cascaded from the stereo speakers
swamped and swooning with sound.
'Cocktail dahling? ' you enquired teasingly
bending to kiss me.
I held on to your every word with baited breath.
I was ecstatically elated.
You divested yourself
of your outside attire
a flame red dress that had seemed on fire
(of which...I had...greatly admired)
but now lay extinguished on the kitchen floor
so that I could see
you wore
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Til Daddy Comes Home (for Ruthie)
The wind
talking with the voices
of the trees
as if a ventriloquist
or playing now
that discarded twisted trumpet
etched in frost
a long lonely note
a hanging
pub sign
THE DOG & DUCK
trying to break free
unleased by the wind's fury
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Rum & Red Bull (being a day after her birthday poem)
Out of our skull
on Rum & Red Bull
we play football
with a grinning
plastic skull
(retrieved from a skip)
using the Momento Mori
for a drunken kickabout.
You dribble
& drool it.
You shoot
I save it
tipping it over
an imaginary crossbar.
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Prayer For Elizabeth
In the morning
of my memory
you bake
apple pies.
And grow very tired
and sit very still
and sit very silent
as the camera
undresses reality
leaves you
alone
sculpted sunlight
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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The Memory of Water (for Scarlet)
Water remembers you
falling now on your sleeping face
waking you from dreams
with its surprise
after you fell asleep
at your first pinic.
Water remembers your childish
laughter.
Water remembers you
holding your body
in its body
as you learn not to fear it
as you learn the words float...sink...swim.
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Songs For Scarlett
THE SUNLIGHT CAUGHT IN HER VOICE
The darkness
of her hair
& the blue
in her eye
sang of her
& transformed
the world
into a beauty
a child could see
notes like
drops of rain dripping
from a branch
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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The Refraction Of Water
Not knowing how to swim
I became an expert
at diving in
and swimming under water
(oh I could do that)
for a width
and then
another width back
reaching for the safety of the bar as if it were
Life itself
even pushed it so far
(I held my breath)
took to swimming lengths
underwater
the danger and the fear of death
became the thrill of it
lost in a soundless universe
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poem by Dónall Dempsey
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