Old Goat

Johnston Kirkpatrick
Why doesn’t it make a run for it,
the goat, stuck there,
take to the road and go for it,
pull the stake out of the ground
and away, or gnaw
through the rope that ties it
to the patch of grass between
the black road and the white river.
 
So far the word it in these lines
replaces goat and freedom
in different places.
It is such a feeble easy word,
a lexical convenience,
lacks substance, adds nothing.
 
The goat too for long periods
just stands there, does nothing
but look at tedious traffic
instead of making a burst for it,
for freedom and meaning,
for connotations of goat
is what I want to say.
This goat is deprived
of its connotations.
Page 80, Poetry Ireland Review Issue 124
Issue 124

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 124:

Edited by Eavan Boland

Poetry Ireland Review 124 contains new poems from Paula Meehan, Ciarán O'Rourke, Lizzy Nichols, Mark Ward, Gabriel Rosenstock, Özgecan Kesici, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and many other compelling voices. Also included is Eilean Ni Chuilleanáin's remembrance of her Cork childhood, excerpted from The Vibrant House: Irish Writing and Domestic Space, a book of essays reviewed in issue 124 by Caitríona O'Reilly. Other books considered in this issue include collections from Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Mark Granier, Tara Bergin, The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets, and the Collected Poems of the late Dennis O'Driscoll, and there's also a short interview with Thomas Kinsella along with an essay on Kinsella as poet and civil servant. Another Kinsella is this issue’s Featured Poet, Alice Kinsella, and all artwork for the issue is supplied by artists associated with the Olivier Cornet Gallery on Great Denmark Street, around the corner from Poetry Ireland.

Available now to purchase online or in all good bookstores.