i excuse myself from you tonight.
there is low cloud on the fields
as the sway carries these hands
between this and the next stop.
i’ve fallen for an other, make eye contact;
deliver it through sight. i recognise
my place by the trees; wonder their age,
fall further in his gaze and swell.
i’m far from home, so is she; but the night
we shared together takes me back.
my belly fills with poison, i force more down,
i wonder about your cap, your trackies,
what goes on, and can’t see you now
that the signal has gone, switched off,
by my debt, my lack of willing
to increase the stings.
help me oh father, i know not what i do.
Marty McKenna is an independent Irish poet, born in Tyrone, now living and writing in Belfast. Marty has poems published in both online and print journals. Marty is a neurodivergent poet.