Feral Kitten by Patricia Walsh
Kissed into a darker corner, fulfilling glory,
no prophecy can deal you a stronger hand,
whistling down recognition, an internalised trick,
concentrated on salted earth pleasantries,
unavoidable through persuasion, repeatedly saying ‘no’.
The hornet’s nest kicked like a football,
letting likehanded know the price of association,
not being let in for sake of attenuated beauty,
improvising handshakes before we even start,
masterplan gone away in the face of affection.
Reading into massacres, somehow being at fault,
timeframe of the day not garnering much,
loving too much not given too wisely,
horror stories realised on foot of invaded space,
looking up the splinters of another’s demise.
Sweeping up the blank checks, burning simplicity
siphoned sympathy wreaks its homage again,
avoiding the portals where none shall engage
dressed like scum to better your position,
proffering on the table a meaner feat.
Walk away discerning a psychiatric scowl,
the self-same profits burrow deep into space
unacknowledged, sleeping this time of your life
dug into corners, hissing when approached
fighting corners for honour, ruined through attention.
Patricia Walsh was born in the parish of Burnfort, Co Cork,and educated at University College Cork, graduating with an MA in Archaeology. Her poetry has been published in Stony Thursday; Southword; Narrator International; Third Point Press, Revival Journal; Seventh Quarry; Hesterglock Press; The Quarryman; Unlikely Stories; and Otherwise Engaged. She has already published a chapbook, titled Continuity Errors in 2010, and a novel, The Quest for Lost Éire, in 2014. A further collection of poetry, titled Outstanding Balance, is scheduled for publication in early 2021. She was the featured poet in the inaugural edition of Fishbowl Magazine, and is a regular attendee at the O Bheal poetry night in Cork city.