Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Aidan Murphy

Circles

Circles

Circles

Chased by beer-cans
I wake on a foam bed
with a stiff knee;
my mouth’s been chewing
Kleenex in the night.

She enters with a vengeance,
draws the curtains,
sighs a dragon-breath
at the sight of stubble,
blood-shot eyes.

She never asks how I feel –
too late for such nonsense.
Her plans are higher than
my small hungover head and
its flat pillow-world.

I try to explain my circle-
theory (always the same day,
how permanent I am).
But I slur again,
I screw the context.

Her loveliness hurts.
It scares me back
to the northside of town
where the jukebox goads:
One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus.
Close

Circles

Chased by beer-cans
I wake on a foam bed
with a stiff knee;
my mouth’s been chewing
Kleenex in the night.

She enters with a vengeance,
draws the curtains,
sighs a dragon-breath
at the sight of stubble,
blood-shot eyes.

She never asks how I feel –
too late for such nonsense.
Her plans are higher than
my small hungover head and
its flat pillow-world.

I try to explain my circle-
theory (always the same day,
how permanent I am).
But I slur again,
I screw the context.

Her loveliness hurts.
It scares me back
to the northside of town
where the jukebox goads:
One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus.

Circles

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère