Ship Street

the castle sits on top

of streams and remains

buried deep in the solid

tracts of all that time

passed since founding

since walls formed

over forgotten gold and silver

running beneath us

in underground seams

another thing undiscovered

like the bore holes

and well shafts silted over

half driven into the world

our small communications

measured in torsion

our paw prints marked

on iron railings and steps

straightened up on exit

tunnels left to fold themselves

back into the earth




from Strasbourg (Salmon Poetry, 2010)

Attendant

I am waiting here for the running of the bulls
by the broken chassis and humming bird voices
the tears of candles melting from the balcony
and the perfume of burning funeral flowers

I am waiting here for the turning of the tides
by the foundation walls and cracked Grecian tiles
the fundamental noises deep beneath the oceans
dead gulls pulled down strangled shores

I am waiting here for trumpet players
to go passing by in golden caskets
for the flaming wheels and dancing girls
feathers waving in concentric circles

I am waiting here for the revolution
from deep in the mud of our hearts' surrounds
the pulses and shudders of the final moments
the new edge of love the razor waves

I am waiting here for Venetian vases
expectant ashes and the last exploration
the citizens and me go dragging our heels
laying down our markers on sinking ground




from Strasbourg, (Salmon Poetry 2010) / published in The Stinging Fly Winter 2009 / 2010

Dark Green Water

this dark green water
dulled by rain clouds
hung over rusted
barn buildings and outhouses

corrugated shelters
barely standing
by rested rolling stock
and motorway plumage

cable
              lines
                          broken

pieces of tile and porcelain
scattered on the tarmac
in heaps behind the depot
will be washed away

into effluent and leaves
become ancient someday
buried in the groundswell
fingerprints erased

          through units of foliage
flow slightly towards the road
between cattle batches
and cellular masts

deep behind the fields
bells ring     hopefuls
hobble up and down
stone streets and the small
city walls

seeds to be sown

tired pools of nightmare
reflect the spectrum
caught on spare branches
air and space fought for

every evening


             *


substation warning lights
dip in the distance
vast all our carbon remains
breathing in time

with the carriage sway

track clicks our measure
light flickers in darkness
final actions boxed objects
dissolve in due course

outlines

             hair
             tooth
             and
             nail

but we
do not own this
we are not planters

we are transit
from one place to the next

aiming our greetings
and appointments

at satellites
and outposts

at the end of imagination





from Strasbourg, (Salmon Poetry 2010) / published in The American Poetry Journal #10

Galway Reading

Reading at Dublin Book Festival

SATURDAY 5 MARCH 1.15pm: The Cube, Project Arts Centre, Essex Street, Dublin 2

DUBLIN, ITS PLACE IN POETRY in association with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature

Peter Sirr, Gerard Smyth, Michael O’Loughlin, Iggy McGovern, Jessie Lendennie,

Alan Jude Moore, Máighréad Medbh

Tickets: €5 – all tickets can be exchanged at the event for €5 Dublin Book Festival Bookshop Voucher! Click here to BOOK NOW!! or telephone the Project Arts Centre 01 8819614 / 01 8819613.

&

SUNDAY 6 MARCH 12.15pm: Come Celebrate!
Main Stage, City Hall, Dublin 2
SALMON POETRY: 30TH ANNIVERSARY
Anne Le Marquand Hartigan, Nessa O’Mahony, Maurice Harmon, Patrick Chapman
Admission Free – no booking necessary!

There's other stuff as well of course; the full programme of the Dublin Book Festival can be found here.

U.S.A.

Got back last week from the USA where I did readings in Pittsburgh and Washington DC. Big thanks to everyone at The New Yinzer Presents reading series in Pittsburgh and to Manuel in DC for hosting the Salmon Poetry reading at his Pigment Art Studios in Adams Morgan. All went well, all was good. Until the next time America...

Gala Reading & Book Launch in Washington DC to celebrate Salmon’s 30th Anniversary

Salmon Poetry Events WASHINGTON DC, Pigment Art Studio - Salmon 30th Anniversary Gala Reading & Book Launch to celebrate Salmon’s 30th Anniversary:

WASHINGTON DC, Pigment Art Studio - Salmon 30th Anniversary Gala Reading & Book Launch to celebrate Salmon’s 30th Anniversary
Date: Friday, February 04, 2011
Time: 8 p.m.
Venue: Pigment Art Studio, 1848 Columbia Road Northwest, Washington D.C., DC 20009
To celebrate Salmon’s 30th Anniversary, we are hosting a poetry reading and book launch at the Pigment Art Studio in Washington D.C.

Readers include: Simmons B. Buntin, Andrea Cohen, Allan Peterson, Kevin Higgins, Susan Millar DuMars, Alan Jude Moore, Patrick Chapman, Drucilla Wall, Eamonn Wall, Michael S. Begnal, Patrick Hicks, Stephen Roger Powers, Drew Blanchard, Philip Fried, John Fitzgerald, Christopher Locke, Hélène Cardona, Devon McNamara, William Pitt Root, J.D. Smith, Pam Uschuk, Jeanne Wagner.

All are welcome to attend - please do come along!



Salmon Poetry has received financial support from
Culture Ireland to attend the 2011 AWP Conference

Contact: Jessie Lendennie
Phone: 065-7081941
Website: http://www.pigmentartstudio.com/

Commute # 1

rats run under the track
the tracks are rat riddled
we travel on skeleton trains
carting our bones over the river
like cells in blood pumped
around the body; falling leaves
and creaking voiced stations
wait for us


the shopping bags and boys
in nylon suits take up space
left by women of a certain age
encased in proteins and immunitas
wrapped in hope against decay
the throwaway brides fancying
fast affairs in warmer places;
dead flowers in October streams


in Polish the bank advertisement
is the same as the native –
only words have been reshaped
as if all language works one way
discrepancies eradicated
by keen interest rates or photographs
of a telephonist smiling
back through the grubby window


by the shaking of hands
the secrecy of backrooms
and done deals of dirty governments;
the rats run under the track
the tracks are rat riddled
we rattle through on skeleton trains
wait for autumn leaves to fall
for some sign of grace

Refoundation

Shine light on the edge of the square
and there a clutch of the creatures
brass necks and ostrich eyes
guffaw grins and slapped sore thighs


walk without waking through the lanes
the baton charge and horseback riders
weighing up with pounds and ounces
how to stop these kilograms


from taking hold and spreading over
the marble halls and archways     now
calculate in museums of science
the length and breadth of grotesques


the passing down of tiny charters
the illness of self delusion     creeping
quicksand rising around
bonded children’s necks


shine a light on the square
illumination and refoundation
impossible words to comprehend
for old grey men with ostrich heads

Next...

That's 2010 almost over and done with. It has been a gas. Anyway, next year, for anyone interested, after a January of inactivity, I'll be reading in Pittsburgh, PA and Washington DC in early February; Dublin and Galway in March and somewhere else outside the Pale - not sure where yet - in the spring as part of a Salmon Poetry reading series. All the details will be posted, as usual, when available.

It's the 30th Anniversary of Salmon Poetry, by the way, in 2011 so keep an eye on their web site, http://www.salmonpoetry.com/ for news of publications and events throughout the year.

Happy new year to you and yours, have a good one.