Download PDF Here 13th Anniversary
Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two December 2022.
Singing to Himself, poems by Maeve McKenna.
Singing to Himself
11am. Two potatoes vying in the pot —
halved to attempt a coup. The scalded water
evaporates steadily. Time for the fork assault.
On the second ring, bubbling remains
of mushy peas, green juice boiled off.
The meat’s exposed; one lamb chop defrosting
on a plate, dribbling a stringy brown juice. Scattered
over the lean bits, a sachet of salt. On the table, two place
settings and half a glass of low-fat milk.
It will be over by midday if the jelly sets.
If not, he’ll sing to himself — each chorus a reply —
as you do back to the radio at 1am when the house
is occupied by the family of paper flowers
caught bickering by the moon’s wide scope, detaching
each other’s heads from the sitting room wallpaper.
© Maeve McKenna
Maeve McKenna lives in Sligo, Ireland. Her work has been placed in several international poetry competitions and published widely. Maeve was a finalist in the Eavan Boland Mentorship Award 2020 and third in The Canterbury Poet of The Year, 2021. She was part of a collaboration with three poets which won the Dreich Alliance Pamphlet Competition. Her debut pamphlet, A Dedication to Drowning, was published in February 2022, by Fly On The Wall Press.