Mike Gallagher – Daydreams and Nightmares

Mike Gallagher is an Irish poet and editor. He lived in London for forty years.His poetry has been published worldwide and translated into five languages.
He won the Michael Hartnett Viva Voce award in 2010, the Desmond O’Grady International award in 2012 and was shortlisted for hhe Hennessy award in 2011.
His collection Stick on Stone was published by Revival Press in 2013.

Daydreams and Nightmares

It’s all about the Unborn in these days
of mandates, mantras and manifestos,
commentariat and politicos playing hurling
with embryos and foetuses,
lobbed from dais to dais; left-wings
grasping the ball with both hands,
doing solo runs down the field, punished
for inevitable own goals; the right wing
dodging the too-hot-to-handle sliotar,
long-hopping it into the long grass
till after E-day; to be long-pucked back
to our disgustingly convenient neighbour
once more
a problem shelved a problem solved.

But let us consider the others, the Born,
those relegated to the sidelines, banished,
unheard, into fiscal space while we debate
economies of scale, puerile promises,
selfish dreams.
But what of the dreams
of homeless children crammed into hotels?
Do the children caged in direct provision
dare to dream? Too late now for dreams for
the dead children of Carrickmines.
Dream on,
leave the nightmares to the children.