Waves of You
I want to hold you, long and close,
where waves break in twilight.
I want to hold you, long and close,
and feel your skin gleaming with joy.
I want to hold you, long and close,
in the tiered fragments of a vision.
I want to hold you, long and close,
whenever you come back to me
on the froth of the tide.
Gasp
I did not expect to find you here,
among these little shells and things
skittering from shore to shore
in a vast eternity of sea-foam;
but here you are, light years
from when I met you,
seeing the sea with eyes
still open to astonishment.
I did not expect to see you,
with your face lit up in eager joy,
or feel the fading day being charged again
by a sudden voltage of your touch;
but here you are, as the night undresses
in an alcove of dreams and moonbeams,
uttering the long tidal gasp
of a longing echoed from every shore.
Martin McCarthy lives in Cork City, Ireland, where he studied English at UCC. He has published two collections: Lockdown Diary (2020) and Lockdown (2021). His most recent poems appear in the pandemic anthology, Poems from My 5k, and in the journals: Drawn to the Light, Seventh Quarry Poetry, Poetry Salzburg, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, The Orchards, WestWard Quarterly, Better Than Starbucks, Blue Unicorn, and Lighten Up Online. He was shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Prize, and is a nominee for the 2022 Pushcart prize. At present, he is working on a long sequence of love poems, titled Book of Desire, and these poems are taken from that sequence. He has a website at mccarthypoet.com
MARTIN MC CARTHY POET 
7 responses to “Waves of You & Other Poetry – from the Chained Muse”
More excellent examples of Martin Mc Carthy being one of our best living love poets.
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Coming from a poet who has both written and translated some of the finest love poems of all time, that is quite a compliment. Thank you so much, Mike. I really appreciate it.
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Well-earned praise.
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I like to think that the good poets just work tirelessly away at what they do, and that someday, almost magically, they have some really good poems to leave behind them, that might live on forever.
As you well know, the great Sappho believed this, and she was right. She earned the accolades that follow her still. So endeavouring to earn a little praise sits well with me. Thanks again for your kind words.
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When I started reading poetry as a boy, it was the magical element that attracted me. I decided that I wanted to see if I could create the same sort of magic. One of the good things about writing poetry is that one really good poem, if it catches on, can take on a life of its own. There are poets like Tichborne who are remembered for a single poem, and poets like Ernest Dowson for maybe three (but his best poems are amazing). It’s a bit like climbing Mt. Everest — a hard trek — but one or two or three forays may do the trick.
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Well, let’s keep climbing that hill – the great hill of immortality – while we still have breath. Who knows we just might make it to the summit if we keep at it? And, either way, there is always pleasure in the struggle!
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Yes, the mountain is there, so we might as well give it our best shot.
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