The End of Summer

Paul Perry
White chrysanthemums 
A silent elegy 
For summer 
 
 
I will not have to tell you 
When the future has arrived 
You will know 
 
 
Sleeping alone 
I heard the cuckoo 
It was still dark
 
 
I cannot write what I want to write 
 
 
A golden hare in the garden 
Looks up 
And is gone 
 
 
Outside the window 
The drip drip of the rain 
Onto the child’s bicycle seat 
 
 
I can’t sleep I won’t 
 
 
Cutting branches 
From the overgrown elm 
Which stands between our wall 
And theirs 
 
 
Two scooters lie 
In the drive-way 
Discarded 
I pray for change
I pray for 
 
 
The end of summer 
 
 
A siren in the distance 
Music on a radio 
I try to leave the past behind 
 
 
Two missed phone-calls 
No call back 
A stillness 
 
 
The house silent 
And expectant 
Waiting for the laughter 
 
 
And the tears 
 
 
Putting my sandals away 
And looking for socks 
School starts tomorrow 
 
 
Cycling with you on the cross-bar 
Up the hill 
And cheering me on:
You can do it, you can do it 
 
 
You are only five 
You were only five 
 
 
Now I am cycling home alone 
With no other thought 
Than gratitude, than love 
A pocket of blue 
The trail of a plane 
 
 
Injured, hurt, 
Recovering 
I am not going 
No bags packed
No passport at the ready 
No calls to make 
I am staying 
I was always staying
I am here 
I am here 
I am here
Page 62, Poetry Ireland Review Issue 121
Issue 121

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 121:

Edited by Eavan Boland

Eavan Boland's first issue as editor of Poetry Ireland Review aims to encourage a conversation about poetry which is  'noisy and fractious certainly ... but a conversation nevertheless that can be thrilling in its reach and  commitment'. There are new poems from Thomas McCarthy, Jean Bleakney, Wendy Holborow, Paul Perry, Aifric Mac Aodha, and many others, while the issue also includes work from Brigit Pegeen Kelly, with an accompanying essay on the poet by Eavan Boland. Eavan Boland also offers an introduction to the work of poet Solmaz Sharif, while there are reviews of the latest books from Simon Armitage, Peter Sirr, Lo Kwa Mei-en, and Vona Groarke, among others. PIR 121 also includes Theo Dorgan's elegiac tribute to his friend John Montague – a canonical poet, in contrast to the emerging poets Susannah Dickey, Conor Cleary and Majella Kelly, who contribute new work and will also read for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series as part of ILFD 2017.