Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Mary O’Donoghue

THE EIGHTIES

THE EIGHTIES

THE EIGHTIES

Dolls ’tached. Sindy, Jana drowned. Six and seven.
Cat flat dead on a Massey. Burials. July’s hot smother.
A pony trucked away. Playing didgeridoo through wavin.
Eight and nine, Two Tribes, war. A friend’s older brothers,
always plotting their murders. Hazel woods. The lake.
Nettles dock-leaved. Calamine. Electric fence susurrus.
Seven Seas gloop on a spoon. Gypsum. Buck rake.
Ten. Statues crying blood. Liking the word brucellosis.
Jeyes’ Fluid puke-thud on tiles. Talk about the feeks.
Eleven. Rhombus desk. Feet in the stove. Poodle socks.
MT-USA. Walking like an Egyptian. Padre Pio’s mitten.
Supergran, Falcon Crest. Twelve. Ganders’ wicked beaks.
Horse jumps. Chopped fingers sent from the Border Fox.
The telltale heart. The half-blind dog. Being bitten.
Close

THE EIGHTIES

Dolls ’tached. Sindy, Jana drowned. Six and seven.
Cat flat dead on a Massey. Burials. July’s hot smother.
A pony trucked away. Playing didgeridoo through wavin.
Eight and nine, Two Tribes, war. A friend’s older brothers,
always plotting their murders. Hazel woods. The lake.
Nettles dock-leaved. Calamine. Electric fence susurrus.
Seven Seas gloop on a spoon. Gypsum. Buck rake.
Ten. Statues crying blood. Liking the word brucellosis.
Jeyes’ Fluid puke-thud on tiles. Talk about the feeks.
Eleven. Rhombus desk. Feet in the stove. Poodle socks.
MT-USA. Walking like an Egyptian. Padre Pio’s mitten.
Supergran, Falcon Crest. Twelve. Ganders’ wicked beaks.
Horse jumps. Chopped fingers sent from the Border Fox.
The telltale heart. The half-blind dog. Being bitten.

THE EIGHTIES

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