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 2^nd 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

https://munsterlit.ie

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.