David J McDonagh has previously published poetry on-line under the name Joseph Maximilian at www.fanstory.com/joseph_maximilian. He recently completed the on-line creative writing course run by Galway based poet Fred Johnston. He lives in Tuam, County Galway with his wife Linda and their twin boys Theo and Fionn.
Four poems by David J McDonagh
The hills go on
I’m always drawn to the scenic route,
by the Docks and the Claddagh,
to where the bay
opens out
and the hills beyond
and the shimmer between
make me glad I avoided
the practical way.
That first summer, the Saturday crowd
would race for the corner
overlooking
the bay;
the bright view
was a promise
of good times
just beginning.
Seven summers later,
someone finally pulled the plug,
but they could not remove the scenery.
While call centres come and go,
the bay and the hills
go on
sustaining us,
inviting us
to take the scenic route.
The butterfly effect
All is not lost
but there’s always a cost
as our piggy bank raid
leaves that last bill unpaid
and the pleasures we steal
turn sour, as we feel
the butterfly flap
of the poverty trap.
After the scan
For Linda
He’s Clark Kent but he’s no Superman;
let nature take its course.
Sensitively, he waives the fee
and sends us home to wait.
Outside, a hug and one request:
I want to drive to the sea.
There, I look to familiar hills:
immovable, ancient, certain.
Transporter Accident
Inspired by ‘Canedolia (An Off-Concrete Scotch Fantasia)’ by Edwin Morgan
In lieu of a no- frills airline,
a disintegrator-reintegrator
would bring back the diaspora
in time for the gathering.
They rematerialised
in villages and towns;
the home crowds watched in horror
as the back-lit shiny grains
of aluminium powder
gave way to visions
of unintended fusions.
It seems that the gathering
had already started
on the way over…
so it’s bualadh bos for boolacow and clabban and clongarogue;
for glaslick and granetown, crossmills and derryshane;
for lissoney and modeltown, oldvue and dromcurry;
for knockavole and redstown, dunsheeaun and balhammock;
for canal west and bunmount, casker and aghavoy;
for bardsinn and barnavan, horse and barn, and altavil…
“let’s climb carraunbulben!” said the man from fox and jockey;
“help! help! my son the engineer is drowning!” said the woman from foxenotte;
and they’re calling out around the lakes: lough corrin, lough allerg, lough reelin;
and there’s no one here can drink their beer like the boys of donaghabarry!
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Notes: [for Transporter Accident]
“disintegrator-reintegrator”: the name given to the machine in ‘The Fly’ (short story) by George Langelaan, published in the June, 1957 issue of Playboy magazine.
“back-lit shiny grains / of aluminium powder”: refers to a special effects technique used in Star Trek, mentioned in Wikipedia article on Transporter (Star Trek), citing Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek the real story, 1996, ISBN 0-671-00974-5 .
The Galway Review 