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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing March 2023
Call Me Old Fashioned, poems by Kate Ennals.
Call Me Old Fashioned
I want to talk harmony
respect, hope, glory
truth, leadership
human dignity
work, responsibility
Tick Tock… Tic Toc
These days
I am discombobulated
cheugy, boke, gaslit
morto, out of the loop
ghosted
Small Hazard
Shiny, bright, it’s a perfect fit
cocked, brimming with fire
a curled finger, poised on a trigger
eye on the barrel, he takes aim,
arm straight. A bullet streaks
the branch of a tree, kills a squirrel.
Father and son whoop with joy
the boy puffs up in filial pride
doing something with his dad
He starts to assemble his armies
behind the couch, under his bed
beneath the kitchen table
lined up to defend himself
against his parents
marauding Mexicans
moustachioed Venezuelans
native Indians, Muslims,
democrats, liberals
Chinese, black Americans
at school, soon after
when he gets the wrong answer
he shoots his teacher.
Drumlin in a Bottle
You ask for our world in a bottle.
I struggle to poke it through the neck
to keep it in shape. It’s already wet
with soft rain, so crumbles, easily breaks.
But, I’m fortunate, its egg shape remains.
I peer through the glass. It looks ridiculous
alone, like a sprouting bump on a head
So, I thread a basket of hills. It’s difficult.
Finally, I tip in a grey sludge of lake,
bubbles and froth to symbolise climate change.
Drumlins are glacial, full of clay, silt and gravel.
They don’t easily burn but entice
the cool of damp, mild of mildew
illustrate the longevity of time
being exploited and undermined
by the greed and avarice of mankind.
© Kate Ennals
Kate Ennals is a poet and writer and has published poems and short stories in a range of literary and on-line journals (Crannog, Skylight 47, Honest Ulsterman, Live Encounters, The International Lakeview Journal, Boyne Berries, North West Words, Crossways, The Blue Nib, Dodging the Rain, The Ogham Stone, plus many more).
Her first collection of poetry At The Edge (Lapwing) was published in 2015. Her second collection, Threads (Lapwing), was published in April 2018. Her third collection, Elsewhere (Vole Imprint), in November 21. Her fourth, Practically A Wake, will be published next year (Salmon Poetry). She has lived in Ireland for nearly 30 years and currently runs poetry and writing workshops in County Cavan. Kate also runs At The Edge, Cavan, a literary reading evening, funded by the Cavan Arts Office. Her blog can be found at https://kateennals.com/. She is currently on the board of PEN na h’Eireann/PEN Ireland and Cavan Volunteer Centre.