Be/ cause
because nothing is like anything
else, an approximation will always break
down when you need it most
because nothing is as soft as a horse’s muzzle
at the curve, above quiet punctuations of hair,
thin pointed teeth guarding tenderness
because I had just been, that morning,
at my college graduation – looking gorgeous
in that dress – where the speaker urged:
I hope you will be vulnerable
with each other, that you will be open
to giving and receiving vulnerability
because he touched me without asking
saying: you are like nothing
I have ever seen before
like how I am touching this horse
feeling its likenothingelse before, us
two silken manes, two hurt mouths
I am so gentle with you between my hands
but tell me / strike my face / pull away
do you not want me to
blow slow into the open black
tunnel of flared nostril, wet
dark animal breathing back
that’s how they kiss – a passing
stablehand spoke in my direction –
and I believed him
I believed him
not / because it was true
but / because I wanted to

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 128:
Poetry Ireland Review 128, edited by Eavan Boland, is full of strong poems and strong opinions. The issue features a total of 61 poets, including new work from Moya Cannon, Ciaran Carson, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Andrew Rahal, Rachael Hegarty, Eoin Rogers, Liz Quirke, and Featured Poet Caitlin Newby. There's an article on Seamus Heaney, excerpted from Minor Monuments, Ian Maleney's masterly book of essays; and, in the first in a series of dips into the PIR archives, Paula Meehan's still-timely essay on her time as Writing Fellow in Residence at TCD is reprinted from PIR 36 (1992).
Books reviewed include new work from Jessica Traynor, Michael Coady, John Liddy, Ceaití Ní Bheildiúin, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Anne Tannam, Gail McConnell,
Cathal Ó Searcaigh, Michael Hofmann, and Harry Clifton, along with 17 other titles. Ann Quinn provides the eloquent cover and artwork for Poetry Ireland Review 128, now available to order online as a single issue or on subscription.