The dark grew darker
frightening the small candle
who sneezed & went out
silence listening to itself
now only the dark's laughter.

tanka by Dónall Dempsey
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This concrete city
infects the sky...turning it
into concrete too.
Concrete sun and concrete rain.
Concrete humans... cry...real tears

tanka by Dónall Dempsey
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My cries thrown to the skies
that witness birth of baby
in this barren field.
Seagulls mimicing my screams
as they turn into: HEADLINES.

tanka by Dónall Dempsey
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A rose made of blood
where the thorn cruelly cuts me
blossoms in my palm.
I, a rose...made of flesh...blood
rivalling thorn's red flower.

tanka by Dónall Dempsey
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I Invite Death

My arm
around your waist
this kiss
this embrace

I invite Death
& Desperation
to look into
our face

& laugh
at their despair
& desolation.

poem by Dónall Dempsey
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snow falling on snow
as night falls...silence falls too
footfalls break the quiet
a whistle wanders uphill
backyards bark...cats get put out

tanka by Dónall Dempsey
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Before Bedtime

She January's me.
I July her.

She Monday's me.
I Sunday her.

She Winter's me.
I Summer her.

It was clear
it would end

in tears

in tears.

poem by Dónall Dempsey
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It Is Such A Secret Place, The Land Of Tears

Oh the extascy of sunlight on grass
& you lying naked upon it

as beautiful as any sonnet

only memory now...a shadow
stealing across my mind.

poem by Dónall Dempsey
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Saving the Snow (for Helen)

'The snow is dying! '
she cries for the melting snow.
'Don't go...please...don't go! '
But the sun hunts the snow down
killing it without mercy.

poem by Dónall Dempsey
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The Photograph’s Negative

She clutches
her sorrow

to her

like a ragged
ragdoll

she had when was
5

unwilling to part
from it

for anything
in the whole wide world

because her
sorrow

[...] Read more

poem by Dónall Dempsey
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