Cork poet laureate William Wall: A Pet Day, At the Lee Fields in October
William Wall, Cork Poet Laureate. Picture: Denis Minihane
we’re all out on a pet day
half-naked in the Lee Fields
October in Ireland
might as well be June in Spain
t-shirts and short-shorts
flip-flops and leather sandals
couples courting on the grass
like the back row of the Multiplex
a yoga class in full sun salute
and there is an actual sun
Irish Water tearing up a long hole
dogs shitting under the birches
a swan with four cygnets
in line astern
a down-at-heel heron
in morning suit
mourning the fish of his youth
coffee in paper cups
from the drive thru
and the shadow of County Hall
with the two lads gawping
as if they never saw
a County Councillor
and high on the ridge
the blank eyes of the ex-asylum
staring down the city’s madness
and still we don’t shake hands
and still we keep the sacred metre
small changes in a strange world
we wear our sleeves short
and keep our distance long
- William Wall is a poet from Cork, and was recently appointed the city's first Poet Laureate. An initiative of the Munster Literature Centre that is funded by Cork City Council, Wall's role will writing a poem every month for the next ten months, giving a personal response to issues in the city and county. The Irish Examiner will publish these poems in the first week of every month, and the works will also be collected into a chapbook to be launched at next year's Cork World Book Festival.
- William Wall's latest collection, Smugglers In the Underground Hug Trade, has just been published by Doire Press
