Imago

From "Colony"

Head of a woman. Half-life of a nation.

Coarsely-cut blackthorn walking stick.

Old Tara brooch.

And bog oak.

A harp and a wolfhound on an ashtray.

All my childhood

I took you for the truth.

I see you now for what you are.

My ruthless images. My simulacra.

Anti-art: a foul skill

traded by history

to show a colony

the way to make pain a souvenir.

---(c) Eavan Boland. All rights reserved.