Thursday 8 November 2007

Strangers

A poem from my party days; when we would drink til midnight, attend the Gaiety Jazz club til 3 am and crawl to Kaffe Moka's for tuna melts. As I worked Saturdays Friday nights out had a strange and disturbing effect on Saturday workdays.....


Strangers

hurriedly dressed and tousled
stale eyes, stale inside
caught in the clammy sweat
and churning stomach
of a hangover
in a state of vague paranoia
everyone I meet
is a familiar stranger.
My mother's voice
a recurring distraction
to the all-important task
of staying vertical,
praying for deliverance.
The day outside
a glowering stifling blur
too loud, too fast.
I wander through the place
lost in self inflicted misery
with pitying glances from passers-by


Geraldine Moorkens Byrne

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

At 67 and knowing my wife for 50 of those years and being married 47.... i remember our party times not that we don't still have a few but not the late nights .... most of all I remember my wife's Irish Mother and her wry judgments after a binge ( now youve gone and done it ) .... and St Jude ..... but most of all her smile and understanding ............

Geraldine Moorkens Byrne said...

Ah the Irish Mother, one of the great insitutions :)