Burns Blue
conversation –
placing words
with some care,
some intention,
like bracken
to guttering
and half-started
fire. we are
in the park.
have been
often lately.
covid, of course –
bars closed
and where else
to talk? we are not
natural woodsmen,
but facsimiles speak
in some small way
of longing.
don't hunt deer
which wander,
we don't light
any fires. we sit
on fallen stumps;
tell stories of weeks
and expectation. jack
brings a thermos
of hot spiced cider.
I bring wine; fallon,
cans of beer. the world
is an underfoot moisture,
like moss on a shadowed
bar patio. we cannot
light fires – can't build flame
from damp. but we talk
a bit, and quietly,
sundown immediate
west. burns blue
in the five o'clock shadow.
throws shadows
like cinders of birds.
Image Credit: ©Pinterest, Henri Matisse
MEET THE POET:
DIARMUID MAOLALAI has been nominated eight times for Best of the Net and five times for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in two collections, "Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden" (Encircle Press, 2016) and "Sad Havoc Among the Birds" (Turas Press, 2019)
