Jean Folan lives in Inishcrone, Co. Sligo. She is a student on the MA in Writing at NUIG. Her poems have been published in West 47, Crannóg, Revival, The Cuirt Annual, Network Magazine, Trácht Magazine, Midlife Slices Anthology. Shortlisted for The Cuirt New Writing Award 2007. A featured reader at Over the Edge 2007. Winner, Culture Night 2010 Ballina, Co. Mayo. Runner-up Culture Night 2012, Galway. Her first collection of poetry Between Time will be published by Lapwing in 2013.
Three poems by Jean Folan
WOODQUAY PANORAMA
I stand at the Bish boatslip, scullers skim by the Pillars.
Swans, ducks, gulls gather, gray waters etch Galway.
Lifebelts hang by the weir over the uneven thrum
of an unseen cascade. A distant drone of traffic,
grey and blue buildings, the Cathedral mass looms.
Nee-naw, Nee naw, increasing volume, incessant intensity.
Past the white colonnades of the Salmon Weir Bridge
a fluorescent ambulance stutters through hidden traffic.
At the same time: reverberations over the copper cupola
of University College; a dark speck enlarges. Overhead
a red and white bird turns towards the concealed hospital.
The rotating noise of helicopter blades scythe my mind.
Smell of fresh cut grass. Stench of acrid bird shit.
Two swans glide, trail V shaped ripples.
I am mesmerised by the confluence of wakes.
A PAIR OF NECKLACES
I loved the first,
a golden torc
with crescent moons
placed with gentle hands.
His fingerpads lingered,
brushed my delicate skin.
The second,
I wish to forget.
A tight black band,
clamped hands,
fingertips crushing,
I struggled. Do bruises
still colour my neck?
He claimed it was a dream
but it was my nightmare
when the torc of his love
became the black choker.
WHISPER
Forty geese from Burren shores
veer north in February formation,
a black frieze undulating under
an incandescent full moon rising.
Twilight wings whisper on Galway Bay
heralding spring migrations,
with honkings of Boreal gaggles,
promise laden with eggs goose golden.
The Galway Review 