Poem by Clifton Redmond

Another Day

He sits on the window sill, all day
outside the corner pub,
going through his pockets,
fingering, frisking, scratching.

he finds a betting slip
rolled into a white pebble,

curses his luck,
his last few pence squandered:

“That fucking nag
is still running?”

You can smell the desperation
mincing

with weeks
and months of heavy drinking;

The Guinness lorry labours to a halt,
its weekly delivery.

The stout barrel man
with gloved hands

rolls out the kegs, lugs crates
of brown and green bottles, they fall,

smashed glass and foam
gather in a pothole.

He waits
until the lorry and the stout barrelled man are gone,

kneels and weeps, in shame
and gratitude, drinks salvation from the ground.

Clifton Redmond is an Irish poet, a member of The Carlow Writers Co-Operative. He has had poems published in various Journals and Magazines.

Allison Goldin is an artist living in California. Her work is a collection of spontaneous drawings from the imagination. The most common link throughout her art are the semi-recognizable creatures scattered amongst and bringing together the surrounding doodles.