Nuala Ni Chonchúir
Molly's Daughter
Cold next to boney limbs,
The iron bed creaking
Beneath a wooden
Slatted ceiling.
You’ll keep your father
Away from me,
The Last thing I need is
Another child to ignore.
Hair curled around fingers,
Then brought next door to
Be shown to the visitors
From the city.
Isn’t
She
Only
Gorgeous?
Playing the piano
With a far-away look,
Just like Mrs. Darling,
Until disturbed by a shout:
What’s that noise?
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Will you stop with
The feckin’ noise?
Slip into the kitchen
To watch the men
Playing cards
Through Woodbine smoke.
Here’s a few pence.
Go and buy yourself
Some sweets,
Like a good girl.
Down to pick flowers
In Darling’s field,
Slammed against a mossy
Bank, dress pulled up.
Just a little feel,
No harm done.
Here’s a tenner,
Don’t tell your Mammy.
Back up the lane
To the house,
Coins jingling
In a dress pocket.
You’re back are you?
Where did you get
All the money from?
Here I’ll mind it for you.
Warm, in your own
Room tonight, hearing
The iron bed creaking
With their weight.
Go easy, Joe,
You’ll wake her up,
She’s not long gone
To bed, you know.
Page(s) 4-5
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The