Churches vacant, the public houses closed,
families forced to make some conversation.
Monday morning, not a sinner on the road
to work or school; empty buses brake, unload
dead air that might be carrying contagion.
Churches vacant, the public houses closed,
you hide in plain sight in your own abode.
Remove your homely self to your workstation;
it’s Monday morning, not a sinner on the road
and that report you promised Friday won’t upload.
You calculate per cent of population.
Churches vacant, the public houses closed,
the things you knew for certain now unknown,
faith to doubt to ennui, concatenation.
Monday again, not a sinner on the road –
why would there be? – the speed of life has slowed
to a limp, a dying generation:
churches vacant, the public houses closed,
Monday morning, not a sinner on the road.
…………..
Brian Kirk’s first poetry collection After The Fall was published by Salmon Poetry (2017). His poem “Birthday” won the Listowel Writers’ Week Irish Poem of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2018. His award-winning short fiction chapbook It’s Not Me, It’s You was published by Southword Editions in 2019.