North Mayo Haiku
Our latest clearing –
Nephin keeping its distance
travels with us still.
Wild roses, raindrops;
the stone quarry stands open
to blossom and fall.
A ditched toilet bowl,
a streamlet flowing through it
high on Sralagagh.
All the sun-shot geese
falling now on Annagh Marsh –
a child’s flamingoes.
Fern and celandine,
a mattress printing its own
celandine and fern.
A picnic’s leavings
around Rathlacken court tomb,
the bog closes in.
Patrick Deeley is from County Galway. His poems have been widely published and translated. Groundswell: New and Selected, is the latest of his six collections with Dedalus Press. His memoir, The Hurley Maker’s Son, appeared from Transworld in 2016.