Marlene O'Connor

Samhain 2015: Creative writing

Dilemma

 

I don’t know where to turn. 

I have been on the Left, flirted with the Right,

been disdainful about the Middle and doubtful

about the Don’t Knows.

Now, the Left has moved too far to the Right,

the Right is trying to be as Left as the Left, 

the Middle has become a dumping ground for

the Left who are too far Right and the Right

who are too far Left, and I have moved my

disdain to the Don’t Knows, which is where I

now find myself. 

The real problem is there is nobody left to say ‘don’t go’

 

Samhain

At Samhain the barriers are weak 

so what will guide us 

when we slip from summer to winter

from waking to sleeping 

from light to dark

from life to death

at Samhain

 

A Proper Charlie

 

He did heroin,

and bloody lucky he was that heroin didn’t do for him.

Now two years later he’s clean.

Clean as the tune he whistles as he cleans out the hamster’s cage.

Does it have a name I once asked.

Charlie he said, 

daring me to say, so you are still chasing Charlie.

But I didn’t. 

Marlene O'Connor at the Samhain Performance, November 2014. NMI - Arcaheology, Dublin.
Photographer: Mervyn Watson
Marlene O'Connor presenting at the Samhain launch
Paul Sherwood

No Comments

Start the ball rolling by posting a comment on this page!

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.