Darkened room, ceiling fan
spinning, glass of Chilean red
half an arm-length away,
desktop logically organized,
neighbour’s air-conditioner
droning beyond the window,
door closed against interruptions,
screen glow, clothes tumbling
in the distant laundry room,
framed artworks and book covers
barely visible in comforting gloom,
cricket bat retiring in the corner,
the Galway bodhran silent atop
the bookcase beside a motionless
globe and bronze cast of the Brownings’
intertwined hands clasped eternally
above Stevie Smith, Heaney, Housman,
Muldoon, Eliot, Kavanagh and Kerouac.
Artwork: Do No Harm (2015) by Jane Theau. Published with permission of the artist.