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.
Photography © Allison Goldin
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.