Milk and Tar
Love undulates
Subcutaneous
Driven into the bloodstream
Love resurfaces
A protrusion
Insistent
I’d never heard of
A wraith
We have banshees
Where I’m from
(Not a competition)
There were
Orange pools of streetlight
Illuminating
Pools of shiny darkness
Tar softened
Underfoot
The earth itself
Rendered malleable
Her heels
Left no soft trace
When she walked across
A peripheral blur
And I can’t say
When I saw her
I can’t say why
I was out so late
Why the street
Was so silent
Why she smiled
When she saw me
Under the tree
Outside of the moon’s spotlight
After the suburban street ended
She smiled
A glint
Brighter than any moon
A peek of teeth
Barely parted lips
She skittered
Into the dark
Into the night
Bashful
You step into the streetlight
Right?
(Who wouldn’t)
(Don’t answer that)
Then remember
There were no footprints
In the summer softened tar
As your own heels sink in
Something clinging
Beneath them
The darkness empty
No smile inside
Cathal Gunning (25)
Editor-in-chief- ColdCoffeeStand
Senior editor- Adbusters
Poetry- The Rose, LaganOnline
Fiction: Tales From the Forest, The Honest Ulsterman, The Runt, Snakes of Various Consistency, The HCE Review, The Occulum, The Weary Blues, TRAIN, Funicular
Shortlisted- Maeve Binchy Travel Award, Hennessy New Irish Writing
Debut novel- ‘Innocents’ (Solstice, 2017)
Lonesome October Lit 