(2:35am last orders in Slattery’s)
fighting/ kissing/ hugging/ crying/ vomiting at three am on a Saturday night/
earlier in the evening you’re a queen and fucking sexy/ now your eyes are bloodshot—
snorting low grade shit on the toilet cistern/ your the man/ you’re the star/ the fucking fool/ your shame in lights
you blame a bad pint/ your loser love life/ the dodgy nightlife/ texting bad poetry to the one
you snogged the other night in Quinn’s pub, she ignores as you bang on her door the following weekend—
hello doll, you remember me?
…fuck off…
(After passing Dermot Morgan in Sandymount Green)
you return to your shitty little bedsit in Sandymount with a snack box from Borza —
the one with the 1982 Italy world champions poster on the wall
David Norris passes by again on his bicycle looking self-important beyond him lay the splendorous Sandymount beach
the only comfort in this recession riddled life/ is
wanking off to the noises coming from next door/ Christ they’re really going for it!
it’s been a long time since confession at your local parish/ you cum the once or twice/ your hand ride for the night
You don’t smoke so you take some snuff up your
nose because you think it’s cool/ listening to Reo
Speedwagon on the Walkman/
(Dublin on a Sunday night)
Man Dublin 1991, all alone with your undiscovered identity/ all alone with the loneliness/ the uncertainty/ the unshaped you
Ah Dublin, sure you were gas a great craic/ I
still remember those walks in Bray off the Dart/ fuck I even wrote a poem in the Harbour bar
when I wasn’t a poet/ a lover/ a settled shape of human/ an identifier/ believer/goer/ groundbreaker/ someone of importance to someone etc
I have no advice for you/
I HAVE no advice for you.
*Note: Dermot Morgan was an actor in Father Ted.
David Norris is a politician who celebrates James Joyce’s Bloomsdsy in Sandymount Green, Dublin.
Robin McNamara has over 125 poems published worldwide. Poems have been placed in Saccharine Poetry, Pink Plastic House, Dreich, Full House Literary Magazine, Dream Journal, & Literary Heist. Robin’s debut chapbook, Under a Mind’s Staircase is being published with Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2021.