Hanging the Mirror
I was thinking
that maybe this wasn’t the way:
then you arrived, perfectly-equipped –
inflated hammer and rubber nails –
City and Guilds poking
from the side-pocket of your overalls.
Like a safe-cracker
you tapped the wall for girth
and hidden passages, walked around
the mirror as though skirting a pond,
took off your shoes and stepped in,
cautiously at first, nervous of carp
and knotted reeds. Waded
up to your waist. ‘Come in, it’s lovely’.
Never a swimmer, I demurred,
offered to hold your coat.
You walked until you were out
of your depth and all I could see
was the hammer in an outstretched hand.
Left it a day or so but you never came back.
Eventually, when I hung the mirror
I turned it sideways so you would be
closer to the bank.
Maurice Devitt: After a career in business he completed the Poetry Studies MA at Mater Dei in Dublin. He was recently placed third in The Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition, and short-listed for the Over the Edge New Writer Award, Westport Arts Poetry Competition and The Doire Press International Chapbook Competition. During 2012 he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, was runner-up in the Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition and short-listed for the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Competition.