The Ofi Press Magazine

By Maurice Devitt, Ireland (Published in issue 15)

 The Field

In winter

when the mist

hung for two days,

he led the cattle,

masked,

from the upper field,

folded the table-cloth

of grass and stored it

carefully

in the barn.

In spring

he hoped

to roll it out

in the same space,

hooves pressing

into corners.

 A Sleeping Woman and the Furies (1821) by Henry Fuseli

--

 Maurice Devitt is a student at Mater Dei in Dublin and is reading for an MA in Poetry Studies. Recently long-listed for the Doire Press Chapbook Competition, during 2011 he was short-listed for both the Fish Poetry prize and the Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition. Over the past twelve months he has had poems accepted by Abridged, Moloch, Paraxis, Phizzfest, Weary Blues, #firstcut, Stony Thursday, Bluepepper and Smiths Knoll and he is working towards a first collection.

The Exigencies of Fashion     

Born with the bullet

of beauty,

there were days you wished

your eyes were holes,

your teeth fangs.

Sold without grace

you planted seeds

in their shoes

and watched them grow

shapeless feet,

heard them speak         

stalkless words.

You shaved your head

in alphabetical order,

pulled faces from trees

and preened

your body odour -

unaware of love

or hate               

you waited for the gap

this dream

could help you to cross.

By Maurice Devitt, Ireland (Published in issue 19)

Noises Off

Perhaps embarrassed

by the silence you had left

the heating coughed politely

when I turned it on,

the radiators ticked

to pass the time

then folded into silence,

even the fridge

anonymous up till then

hummed the grace notes

of a tune I vaguely knew

but it was the lights

that really got me

when I surprised them

late at night

and caught them whispering

I can only guess

what they were saying

when I closed the door

on darkness.

Photography by Eleanor Bennett

http://eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com/