Red Tape

Luke Kennard

Last night I dreamed you were trapped in a narrow wooden channel

and I couldn’t reach you, although I could see the top of your

head and hear you crying. In the morning I found your icon of

St Moses the Ethiopian had fallen down the back of the dresser.

The ramifications are horrifying. I have turned myself in to the

police station on the mount.

Time to get the childish things down from the attic. Is the Book of

Life literally a book and could it fall on you because it hasn’t

been appropriately fastened to a wall, because that’s ridiculous.

A big glowing CGI book. All code. It’s patronising.

We don’t need it. When I was a metaphor I spoke in metaphors and

did metaphorical things, but now I am a metonym and have put

away metaphors. I wrestle metonyms on top of the metonymic

foothills in the night. My car is idling with its lights on and five

doors open, a metal flower in full bloom. The endlessly divisible

is easily dismissible: A thick mist of patchouli from a headshop;

The kind eyes of the Christian Union girl who tells you you’re

going to Hell;

Form. I move the sofa, then the dresser, pick off the dust bunnies. I

can hear you.

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 120:

Edited by Vona Groarke

Vona Groarke's final issue as editor is packed with new poems from leading contemporary poets, including Simon Armitage, Sinéad Morrissey, Colette Bryce, Paul Muldoon, Sean O'Brien and Caitríona O'Reilly. Books reviewed include new work from Derek Mahon, Bernard O'Donoghue, Rita Ann Higgins, Martina Evans, Denise Riley and the 2016 Forward Prize winner Vahni Capildeo. The centrepiece of the issue is an interview with Paul Muldoon in which the Armagh maestro shares his thoughts on subjects as diverse as public surveillance, the economic down-turn, and the exclamation mark. The cover image is by photographer Justyna Kielbowicz, and the issue also contains award-winning artwork from Sven Sandberg, Aoife Dunne, Jane Rainey, and Michelle Hall. Instead of an editorial, Vona herself answers the questionnaire she put to the contributors of Poetry Ireland Review Issue 118: The Rising Generation.