Mary Cooper
The Navvy
His face; the face of Father Time,
a well ploughed field, deeply furrowed.
Like soft worn leather tanned by sun and wind.
A map of Ireland with the sparkle of blue,
his face; a creased and battered shoe.
A granite cliff with jutting brow,
a disgruntled bulldog
or a prize fighter,
a grumpy clown
or bewildered child.
His face was a face to sink a thousand ships.
His voice; the blare of a foghorn,
like it held a mouthful of dry biscuits
or held gravel.
His voice a frosty morning; cold and sharp,
like the cathedral organ playing Bach.
Velvet, to cover the strength within,
like a soft Irish mist
and a roll of drums.
Like a rumble of thunder before a storm.
His hands were like two slabs of raw red meat,
a pair of sledgehammers;
the hands of a pugilist.
His hands were like a child’s, clumsy yet gentle at the same time;
like the paws of a great bear,
iron with a grip like a vice.
His hands were like the hands of Adam, made to dig and delve.
Page(s) 9
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- Lamport Court
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- Modern Poetry in Translation
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- North, The
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- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
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- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- Private Tutor
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- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
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- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The