Southword 43, Launch Event, 2nd February in Waterstones, Cork
The launch of Southword 43 will take place in Waterstones, Cork, at 7.00 p.m. on Thursday 2nd February, with poetry and short story readings from issue 42 and 43 of Southword. We hope you’ll join us!
Munster Literature Centre – Southword 43
Poems from Amy Woolard, Fran Lock, Róisín Leggett Bohan, Daragh Byrne, Kevin Cahill & Martin Mc Carthy.
€10.00 · In stock.
Martin Mc Carthy’s poem is titled ‘Before the Onslaught’.
Before the Onslaught
It’s a squally September morning
and on the pavement outside my window,
a blonde woman and a blonde girl –
presumably her daughter – are strolling
steadily towards the schoolhouse.
Both are dressed in pink,
and the girl has a matching satchel
with an image of My Little Pony,
which explains to some degree
her own neat ponytail.
At the corner, near the traffic lights,
there’s a shop with a sheltering canopy,
and they stop there, for the mother
to button the girl’s small jacket
against a slowly gathering onslaught.
Yet neither seem to be in a hurry
to hurry into the rain,
or into the rest of their lives –
where, already, a small scattering of cherry leaves
lies trampled in a nearby puddle.
MARTIN MC CARTHY POET 