Night-time looking over the Liffey, slate grey artery,
flurry of merry music like a band of castanets still in our ears.
The cèilidh at Shannon’s, man with a bodhrán and a pint of tar
at his elbow, girls in skirts a blizzard of colours.
Róisín’s at UCD but tonight, here, the silky lilt
of English pouring from her emerald throat,
her hand in mine as a crew of mangled gobshites stumble home.
We swim in our jollity, BYOC (bring your own craic) in the city
where three times in the 90’s we were kings of the castle.
You say your father remembers ’62, when I look in your eyes you say coinnigh mé anois.
What’s that mean? I ask. Hold me now. And I do.
Your lips taste of Guinness, my head foggy with you.
NOTE: This is the last manuscript poem. Written: 2018/19. Explanation: A poem that was part of my MFA Creative Writing manuscript, in which I wrote poems about cities that have staged the Eurovision Song Contest, or taken the name of a song and written my own piece inspired by the title. I have received a mark for this body of work now, so am sharing the poems here.