Their Return
The people who lived here before,
we slowly abolish them
by buying beaming new fridges,
washer dryers, cookers
with fan ovens that actually work
and two year warranties, more sofas
for the cat to do Tai Chi on.
Yet the rooms are loaded
with the thought of them.
We tear up the garden they grew here
and plant shrubs that speak of us.
Yet the air is full
of the things they believed,
and the things they’ll say about us
when they come back.
The Stinging Fly magazine has described Kevin Higgins as “likely the most read living poet in Ireland. His poems have been quoted in The Daily Telegraph, The Times (UK), The Independent, The Daily Mirror, and read aloud by film director Ken Loach at a political meeting in London. His sixth full collection of poems ‘Ecstatic’ will be published by Salmon Salmon Poetry.