The Bishop's Hat

Palm Sunday 2001

The Bishop walked up the middle aisle
Like a jester with a silly hat
But his face was frozen in solemnity,
No riddles or jingling bells
Lips sealed together like gummed scripture
To match the gloom of his garbs.

And he took his tower off his scalp
Uncovering a purple flap,
Him standing so high and wide,
Behind a marble casket
Like a unmanned trawler
At the mercy of the angry waves.

If Jesus walked into this Temple,
No stall would be left unturned,
No scarred soul untouched,
The Nazarene in sandals and cotton cloak
Would cast the roadshow out
Starting with the Bishop's hat.

Breathing

Climbing up the staircase,
On the wicker floor,
Fondling the banister,
As my shoes are heeled to the second step,
And the grandfather clock catches me up this late,
Pendulum swings as if to scold,
And beer rifts its way up,
To a hush.
And I hear breathing,
I follow breathing to life itself,
My daughter spread among the half-sheets,
Breathing her way through a dream,
Faceless in a journey I cannot see.

And I hear a twist,
The cot mattress squeaks at me,
Reminding me of more breathing,
My baby son cushioned in blankets to his chin,
Smiling in some adventure unknown to me,
Maybe recollecting his first steps today,
Without fondling the walls or armchairs.

Poppy eyes peep from raised head,
And then plopping back to the dreamworld,
My wife will not even remember her moment,
But soon family will cross the threshold to the land of faceless people,
And never meet each other,
Until the alarm clock rings.

^

Biography

Shane Martin was born in 1965 and grew up in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. He resides in Monaghan town and works as a secondary school teacher in St. Macartan's College there. He is studying for a Masters Degree in Applied Psychology in the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, Belfast . His first collection of poetry entitled 'The Dark Room' is due for publication in July 2001. It is a collection of 100 poems. He is also working on his first novel and hopes to publish it in the new year