It arrives at night, hand-delivered to a party,
a gift box devoid of sound but a rehearsal
of the moment we will return
to uterine layers of clay.
At first we are unsure how to speak of our dis-ease
so our story strums us, jumping on our chests as we sleep
expelling its plans between our gasps, making us
jar in ways we do not understand.
Fragmented, within and from each another
each touch an enemy, our hands
quills dipping in the delusion that we can deaden
our living fears.
No point going back the way we have come
no use finishing our party pieces
or reaching out to hold those departing
to say one last unsaid thing.
Best to separate ourselves, yolk from white
pour the bubbles to the brim behind locked doors
and from the balconies of our cabin-fevered souls
swarm the courtyards in song
while we buy ourselves time.
……………
Sinéad Mongan is based in Galway where she has been taking part in poetry workshops since January 2018. In 2019, she was the winner of Galway University Hospital Arts Trust ‘Poems for Patience’. She has also had poems published in Skylight 47 and by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. Two of her poems were also used by TACTIC in their ‘Archives of Shame’ exhibition.
Sinead’s stark poem describes the fear we all feel at this time and our attempts to delude ourselves.