Ciarán O’Rourke was born in 1991 and is based in Dublin. He has won the Lena Maguire/Cúirt New Irish Writing Award, the Westport Poetry Prize, and the Fish Poetry Prize. His first collection, The Buried Breath, is available from Irish Pages Press.

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This Lady

In an airy coat
this lady
I’ve seen often

softly
drags one foot
when moving by,

hail-spattered face
now fixed
to claim the window-seat

in Mannings Bakery

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Fatherly Man

Fatherly man,
you never
saw me catch my breath

as you put your shoulder
to the door-

jamb, the greyness
gathered
beneath your eyes