Live Encounters Poetry & Writing August 2021
Margaret Kiernan has a background in Public Policy and Social Justice. She writes poetry and short stories. She also paints landscapes in mixed media. She is published in, The Blue Nib Literary Journal, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Burrow at Old-water-rat publishing Australia, The Galway Review, Poet Head, A New Ulster, Anthologies, and Cultural news magazines. She is listed in The Index of Contemporary Women Poets in Ireland, 2020. She writes with the Thursday Group of poets, at Over -the-Edge, Galway. Is also a member of Ox Mountain poets.
Avenged
Were, love to drift this way, ever stand a chance
to crowd a space, revert to “the roses are pink”
your say-sos, again.
Lift the China rose in my heart
raise the blistered mist
the satchel you bought her, at that Parisienne salon.
Strip back the bandages, pus around thorns flowing,
her sneers revealed.
swim with me
in redemptions cool milk.
Would I merely watch the shadowed bud?
snip the petals apart, one by one while you sneak
back, to the swagger of that tart.
Within my crushed core, anger cuts swathes
through your breaking fence, un-leashes a feral thing
most dangerous, sly.
Inflict spells upon you and on her
a cotton dolly jangles with pins
juju girl.
Could I un-hook that spiders web, slash the branch
it rests upon, sack that stinky gossip whiff
suckle our fable?
Merciless time rides in a sailboat,
keeps going to the edge
meets horizon
stays briefly bright
dips away out of sight.
© Margaret Kiernan