This Galway magazine has done me the signal honour of publishing another poem of mine, ‘Survivor’. I am very pleased to find myself in the company of some fine and well-known writers such as Kate Dempsey, Michael Farry, Brian Kirk and John W. Sexton, as well as some others I have not seen before.

I liked very much the precise demestic details of Kate’s ‘No.1 Mum’ and John’s series of terse tercets. Not sure if the latter could be classed as a sort of haiku selection but they work very well:

how easily the snail

holds starlight

on its skin

and Brian Kirk’s ‘Immanent’ has an immediate appeal to me because it captures that moment (when night is about to ‘fall’) about which I have often written myself.

… The night is ready 

like a cat to pounce,

and idly, like a cat,

it paws the moment …

Another poem of twilight time (favourite time of poets!) is from the pen of Michael Farry. ‘Waiting for the Train’ is the title and that is what the poem is about (Michael writes that ‘down to earth’ type of stuff that I like a lot). he catches the atmosphere of the old station, now falling somewhat into neglect where the dying sun casts

a brief drench of rusty brilliance,

kindling the few last clinging beech leaves,

their fallen fellows thick on the disused platform.

My own contribution is a poem written after an illness in which I suggest there may be some similarity between myself and its long-legged subject:

Survivor

Driving down the Belgard Road

I see again the gossamer evidence

of my sitting tenant, snug

behind the glass of my wing mirror.

–

Rare the glimpse I’ve had of him

the time we’ve been together, I

so sure the wind would put an end

to his arachnoid acrobatics

–

but this tiny wight is match

and more for zippy morning breezes,

keen as elephant or moose

or mouse (or me) to cling to life.

–

In dead of night and lit by streetlamp,

undisturbed by prowling cat

or busy milkman he will toil

to realign his damaged lacework

–

and, come day, will venture out,

negotiate his deadly silk

to reach his breakfast, all the while

remembering to place his feet

–

along particular threads he spun

dissimilar from the others, ones

he left bereft of gum. But he

and only he, can tell which ones.

 

The next issue of Skylight 47 will be launched in Autumn 2017 and submissions will be accepted between 1 June 2017 and 1 August 2017. Send three (unpublished) poems plus bio (60 words max.) to skylightpoets47@gmail.com

Poems up to 40 lines and sent as both an attachment and in the body of the email. Submission detail can be found on skylight47poetry.wordpress.com

Full marks again to Bernie Crawford and her intrepid editorial team on a great issue! And congratulations to Patricia Byrne on her wonderful illustrations (example above).