Bullet Points
Feeding bullet points, the feared open window,
The obsessive probation winds up its proprietary
To every shoe it’s sock, not wanting association
With everything causative, stalked in perpetuity
The decrepit belonging to a musty partner.
Working on climax, to call yourself blessed,
Fascistic drinking yourself above the law,
Hobo-static dreams in place of provision
Grudgingly offering honourable persuasion.
Sarcastic reckonings, the apposite hug,
Sidling away at home, gratefully dead,
Rowing gently down the stream, watching the algae,
Deadening fish punctuate our mutual scam,
Time and again, poking open at the cinema.
Faded names no longer disappear,
They hang themselves on tradition, tempora ad mores,
Not listening to the oral exam over dinner
Clever sarcasm runs amok over decorum.
Excellent work, at least until discovered,
Waiting over a surreptitious hint, now obvious,
Sick to the gills of victimesque collusion,
Overly relaxed, not paying the home dues
Die on your feet, or ultimately, your back.
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Patricia Walsh was born and raised in the parish of Mourneabbey, Co Cork, Ireland. To date, she has published one novel, titled The Quest for Lost Eire, in 2014, and has published one collection of poetry, titled Continuity Errors, with Lapwing Publications in 2010. She has since been published in a variety of print and online journals across Ireland, The UK, USA, and Canada. She has also published another novel, In The Days of Ford Cortina, in August 2021.
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Stone Poetry Quarterly 