The Ofi Press Magazine

International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City

Alvy Carragher: 1 Poem Published

Poems by Alvy Carragher (Ireland)

Published in issue 41 of The Ofi Press

 

  

What she planted

 

she found us in the dump behind our cottage,

standing up to our knees in rotting cardboard,

tinkering with broken teapots and old dolls

 

she dug until there was nothing

but wet earth and stones,

planted ivy, roses and clematis,

built low walls to squeeze them into place,

ran her hands along the ridges of fossils,

told stories of the lizards trapped in stone

 

we sucked stalks of rhubarb

that made our eyes wince,

tunnelled through her hedges

to steal blackcurrants,

she cursed blackbirds

and we hid juice-stained hands

 

we sat on the apple tree branches,

craned our necks towards the cottage,

listened to whispers of arguments

and tried not to blame ourselves

        

when the silence settled,

we always found her

in that place by the trellis,

bent low, pulling weeds,

as she hummed

tunelessly to herself

 

About the Poet

Alvy's first poetry collection is forthcoming in 2016 with Salmon Poetry. She has performed at festivals throughout Ireland. She writes a blog  called With All the Finesse of a Badger about how bad she is at life, which has won several national awards and has been archived by the National Library of Ireland. She is a national slam poetry finalist despite her obvious stage fright. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Poetry Prize, The Irish People's Poetry prize and listed for many things including the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize. She is the poetry editor at www.headstuff.org

Image: "Rhubarb at 2 Months" by RBerteig.